The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing [Tales of Berseria/Zestiria]

[CloudFry]

The world Velvet Crowe once knew has changed. Now, the only way the former Lord of Calamity can achieve her goals is to play along with the rest of the sheep. Cloaked in self-hatred as a monster borne of irredeemable sin, Velvet is determined to twist the young Shepherd into a tool to suit her needs through whatever means available.

A non-romantic interpretation of both games set during the plot of Zestiria, combining the original story with some of the various themes, characters, and lore of Berseria. Canon divergence.

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Preface: Hello! Only just now heard of this site, so I figured why not. I'm coming from FFN, Ao3, SB, SV, and Watt. Am I questing right?

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Chapter 0 – Silence.

It was quiet. The full moon hung in the starry sky, basking the rolling hills and lush forests with an otherworldly azure glow. The long shadows cast by the jagged trees and rough cliffsides contrasted sharply with the blanket of moonlight, dotting the land with pools of abject darkness.

A damp, chilly breeze gusted through the land, rustling foliage and scattering leaves in the darkness. Somewhere, an owl hooted, punctuating the soft rush of the wind as it danced among the leaves overhead. A small stream flowed nearby, its chuckling accompanying the chirping of crickets occupying the patches of grass on the forest floor.

The sudden snap of a branch rang out loudly in the tranquil forest, accompanied by the gratuitous rustling of foliage. In the dim, murky moonlight obscured by clouds and the canopy above, a wild animal padded out from the shadowed brush, halting soundlessly in the middle of the dirt path. Its ears were perked and alert, its eyes seeming to glow eerily in the darkness as it surveyed both directions up and down the road.

The warm glow of a distant city vaguely shone through the tree trunks and branches on the left side of the path, silhouetting the figure of the wolf as it cautiously sniffed the air. Its eyes suddenly widened in alarm, its hackles rising.

"Now, guys!"

All pretenses of tranquility were shattered as blinding flashes of vibrant colors erupted from out of nowhere, accompanied by deafening roars of power as mana flew through the air towards the wolf. Fire and water sizzled loudly as both artes impacted right on target, sending the animal tumbling backwards with a yelp of agony.

Despite the force of the initial attack, the wolf quickly found the ground with its paws and zeroed on its attackers. A grating snarl resounded from its belly as it found two human figures descending upon it with drawn weapons gleaming in the moonlight. The young man wielding a ceremonial sword was the first to let out a wordless yell as his weapon fell in a slicing curve down towards it.

With deft movements, the animal leapt to the side, cleanly dodging the attack. Not missing a beat, his companion jerked her metal lance forward, landing a grazing slice on the wolf's hide. Snarling heavily, the furious animal dodged the young woman's follow-up slash before lunging to get inside the reach of her weapon.

The other attacker was ready for it. Right as the wolf charged forward, the young man latched onto the grip of his sword with both hands, holding it horizontally in front of his companion.

"Begone!" he demanded, slashing forward.

A brilliant, otherworldly silver glow blasted out from his blade, illuminating the surrounding forest in stark contrast to the underlying moonlight. The harsh lighting framed his boyish features alongside his stark white ceremonial cloak that billowed behind him with the force of the mana charging through his body. With a roar of effort, the Shepherd slashed his blazing sword forwards, towards his enemy.

Blade and fang met in a brilliant clash of flame and malevolence.

A much higher-pitched yip of agony rang out as a completely transformed animal tumbled backwards into the mud away from the two humans. Residual embers of silver flame still clung onto its fur, evidence of its successful purification. Gasping for breath, the small fox glanced around, staring in evident confusion. It froze when it saw the two humans standing across the road from it, watching it. In a flash, it had sprinted off into the bush, vanishing into the night.

Sorey slowly untensed, catching his breath and willing the adrenaline to stop pumping through his veins. "…Whew!" he breathed, flipping the short sword around in his hand and sheathing it at his right hip. "Nice job, everyone!" he exclaimed, turning to the other three travelers walking up to him.

"Indeed it was!" Lailah agreed brightly with a happy smile and a dainty clap of her hands. "The both of you did a great job at fending the hellion off at close range."

"Not bad." Mikleo allowed as he strolled up to his childhood friend, holding up his forearm with a closed fist. "You've been getting better at purification ever since we left Ladylake." he observed.

Sorey grinned as he reciprocated, bumping his own arm on the water seraph's. "Your artes have been nothing to sneeze at either. I don't think we could've taken that hellion down so easily if you and Lailah hadn't weakened it first."

His friend let out a hmph. "But of course. What else could you expect from the Shepherd's Sub Lord?"

"Uh, a little modesty, maybe?" Sorey shot back grinningly, scratching his cheek.

Mikleo rolled his eyes humorously in response.

At his side, Alisha let out a light laugh as she delicately sheathed her spear. Her eyes wandered contemplatively towards where the hellionized fox they'd fought had disappeared. "Still. To think that so many of the local wildlife have become hellions." The princess shifted on her feet, her armor clinking as she rested her head on her palm. "We must've encountered over a dozen such hellions just in the past few days. I shudder to think what sight awaits us in Marlind."

Lailah gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You shouldn't worry so much about what's yet to come." She smiled softly. "It's better to worry about the more pressing stuff."

"Like… what?" Alisha asked for elaboration.

As if delighted she'd asked, Lailah's face lit up. "Why, what's for dinner, of course!" she chirped, tilting her head daintily to the side.

Mikleo deadpanned. "Lailah, your priorities are questionable at best." he muttered.

"At best?!" Lailah gasped in horror. "Oh, no!"

Sorey laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Still," he conceded, "she does bring up a good point." He turned to Mikleo, all business-like. "What is for dinner, anyways?" It was Sorey's turn to be at the receiving end of Mikleo's deadpan.

Alisha gave a shudder. "Whatever the case, I do hope it isn't whatever we had last night." she remarked.

Lailah giggled, holding a few casting cards up to her face to cover her smile. "I agree, that would be quite the prickle." she chirped.

Mikleo, at the height of irritation, exhaled a ponderous groan. "I told you guys," he stressed, "last night was my first time trying to make prickleboar stew on my own! You can't expect me to be a perfect cook on my first try!"

"From what it looks like," Sorey pointed out wryly, "they can, and do."

Mikleo glared at him. "Back me up here, Sorey! You know how good Gramps is at cooking. Me trying to copy all of his recipes by myself is bound to result in a few mistakes here and there." he defended heatedly. "Perfection is the result of a ton of trial and error!"

"Sorry, Mikleo. I can't." Sorey replied apologetically, giving a helpless shrug. "I guess I just thought I could've expected more from the Shepherd's Sub Lord." He shook his head disapprovingly as he began walking once more down the path, his boots crunching on the gravel. "Guess not."

"Sorey…" Mikleo grumbled as he followed.

Lailah and Alisha shared muffled giggles, following grinningly behind the two boys as they continued to exchange verbal blows with no malice.

High up above, the moon continued to watch in silence. Its body was reflected in the nearby waters of Lake Perniya, warping with the shifting of the windswept waters. In the distance, tall, imposing mountains surrounded the lake, their peaks meshing seamlessly with the increasingly cluttered night sky. Large clumps of dark grey clouds migrated through the heavens, casting dark, ominous shadows that travelled through the land of Lakehaven Heights in a silent, foreboding procession.

A gust of damp breeze blew down the path of the group, rustling leaves and disturbing their clothing and hair. All around them, trees began to groan and waver under the weight of the powerful wind. Sticks and stray leaves blew through the forest, clacking noisily on the ground. They exchanged serious glances as they travelled down the path, their clothing flapping in the breeze.

"…Looks to me like there's a storm coming." Mikleo observed seriously, glancing up at the increasingly overcast night sky.

"Yes." Lailah agreed with a nod, considering the group's options. "If we're not careful, we might be stuck out in the open with no shelter."

Alisha pushed some hair out of her eyes. "It would do us no good to arrive at a plague town being sick ourselves."

"Right." Sorey's eyebrows were furrowed. "Then we'd better start looking for somewhere to hole up for the night."

As one, the group picked up their pace, walking faster through the empty forest. The chirping of the crickets had ceased. The distant owl had stopped hooting. The chuckling of the nearby stream had been drowned out by the howl of the wind and the groaning of the trees. The lights of Ladylake had suddenly begun to seem much, much farther away than they had earlier. All around the group, the world continued to darken. What little illumination that had been provided by the moon had been cut off by the rapidly encroaching storm clouds overhead. Their steps quickened still; the animal instinct to run and cower from the forces of nature driving them urgently forward.

The narrow path they were following abruptly entered into a small clearing nestled in the heart of the forest. Sorey blinked, slowing his steps and glancing around the unfamiliar space. High up in the sky, a brief break in the cloud cover overhead occurred, letting in a startlingly bright ray of moonlight to bask the clearing in otherworldly light.

The group abruptly registered that the floor of the open area was in reality covered in brilliant pure white flowers that shimmered brightly in the moonlight. The whole area was sheltered by the surrounding trees from the wind and was therefore almost jarringly silent and peaceful compared to the forest outside. It was almost as if it were a different world entirely.

"A meadow!" Mikleo remarked in amazement. "In the middle of the forest!"

Lailah's eyes were wide. "How pretty!"

Alisha glanced around in awe. "A meadow in the middle of a forest…" she glanced at the seraphim of the group with a wry smile. "Like a place straight out of the fairy tales."

"Quite!" Lailah agreed brightly. Mikleo shared her sentiment.

Sorey had a bright smile on his face as he gazed upon the natural beauty presented. "These flowers… they look familiar." His brow furrowed in consternation. "What were they called again…?" His hand began to reach habitually for his copy of the Celestial Record in his pack. And then he froze.

A cloaked figure stood motionlessly amidst the flowers, facing them.

Overhead, the gap in the clouds letting the moonlight in began to close. Darkness once again began to overtake the shining meadow, obscuring the brilliant flowers from view. The motionless silhouette of the figure became nearly indistinguishable as the shadows engulfed the opposite side of the clearing. Yet from out of the darkness, two blood red eyes stared directly at him, burning inhumanly bright in the shadow.

"Hellion!"

Weapons were drawn in an instant as the group registered the threat awaiting them. Alisha's lance was held in a tight, well-practiced grip. Mikleo's staff was secured in his right hand and supported by his left. Lailah's casting cards were fanned out in her palm, ready for use. Sorey's sword sang as it left its sheath. His jaw was set as he fell into ready stance, angling his body against the threat presented by the pair of eyes watching the group unerringly.

They waited, poised to defend themselves from the inevitable first attack. The shadows had nearly covered the entire field, leaving only the Shepherd's group in a small, isolated patch of moonlight. And yet, no attack came.

"…Lailah?" Mikleo whispered, keeping his eyes on the hellion watching them. "What's going on? Why isn't it attacking?"

Lailah shook her head wordlessly, confusion evident in her expression.

"What should we do, Sorey?" Alisha prompted urgently, keeping her stance low and ready.

Sorey's eyes were fixed on the hellion's eyes, his brow furrowed. He didn't answer, trying in vain to observe anything about their opponent.

A distant thrum of thunder erupted, making the ground under their feet rumble. Ever so slowly, the clouds above drifted in the wind, closing off the last of the moonlight and cutting off the land below from the heavens and condemning it to darkness. The group blinked in the abrupt change in lighting as the meadow disappeared from their eyes.

And in the darkness, it charged. Inhumanly quickly.

Sorey's blood ran cold as he belatedly registered a massive monstrous claw extending from out of the black and descending upon his body. Disbelief and shock flashed through his mind in a single instant. He could only stare uncomprehendingly as the hand of a giant fell towards his head; razor-sharp serrations poised to rend his flesh apart in an instant.

"SOREY!" Mikleo shoved himself between his human friend and the attacking hellion, defensively raising his staff.

CLANG!

Sparks flew as the hellion's claw impacted against Mikleo's hastily casted shield arte, the clash illuminating surrounding meadow with flashes of azure blue and blood red.

"Damn!" Mikleo swore, staggering back from the sheer force that had run through his staff from the attack. He scrambled for solid footing, his boots scratching noisily on the gravel underfoot. His opponent, on the other hand, had followed swiftly through with its initial slash, spinning smoothly around and pressing forward for a successive attack.

Lailah and Alisha reacted immediately, flanking Mikleo and attacking the hellion with flame and spear.

It abruptly vanished, rendering both attacks useless. Alisha stumbled forward, recovering from her missed spear stab. Lailah's flame arte shot off into the distance, puttering out among a patch of flowers in the distance. The group glanced around wildly in momentary confusion, casting about left and right in disbelief.

"…Above us!" Alisha cried in alarm, jerking everyone's heads up.

Right at that moment, a blinding flash of lightning lit up the sky; the first of many to come. And in the harsh illumination, Sorey got his first clear look at his opponent.

A mask of steel covered its face, brightly reflecting the flare of lightning.

Brilliant, demonic red eyes glared out of small slits in the mask. A tattered dark-brown cloak covered its mostly humanoid body from head to toe, billowing in the wind. Mostly humanoid, save for its left arm that extruded out from underneath the cloak and into a huge pulsating claw patterned with vicious-looking serrations. Its entire body was wreathed in sickening malevolence that trailed its every move.

And it was targeting him.

Sorey barely managed to get his sword up in time as the hellion slashed down.

CRASH!

A crash of thunder broke at the same time as the meeting of sword to claw, deafening Sorey's ears as he was thrown bodily backwards by the sheer force of the descending hellion.

"Aaagh!"

He let out an involuntary grunt as he landed hard in the flowers, tumbling over himself amidst a plume of dirt and dislocated petals. The world spun around him as he tried in vain to get his bearings, grasping the crushed flowers underneath his body with his hands. A rumble of distant thunder further disoriented him as he struggled to find the ground underneath him. With a jerk of his head, he forced his eyes to focus on the battle raging between his friends and the invading hellion in the center of the clearing.

Alisha faced off against the monster. The two of them circled around each other, Alisha's unwavering spear keeping her opponent at bay. Meanwhile, her opponent's movements were almost casual; mere steps in the dirt as it seemed to size the woman up.

With a cry, Alisha abruptly lunged, thrusting her spear forward to sink into its torso.

The masked hellion jerked its claw up, swiftly intercepting the path of the spear. Alisha cursed as steel slid right off the appendage as if it were made of metal, leaving her without stable footing. Silently, without uttering a single noise, the hellion whipped its claw around and bashed the off-kilter princess of Hyland off to the side. Alisha grunted in agony as she was thrown to the side of the clearing opposite to Sorey, her armor clanking noisily as she tumbled to the side.

Alisha having been dealt with, the hellion targeted Lailah next.

With a frightening burst of energy, it charged forward towards the casting seraph. Yelling fiercely, Lailah flicked her wrist forwards, finalizing her arte. An otherworldly hum rang out as the ground beneath their opponent grew molten orange.

BANG!

The hellion slammed its claw into the dirt and used the leverage to launch itself into the air as the arte detonated. Its cloaked figure was framed in the night sky by the brilliant orange hue that followed.

Flying through the air, the hellion attacked with all the grace of a predator pouncing on prey. Lailah could only watch in horror as the claw descended upon her defenseless form. "No-!" She gasped.

"Aaaagh!!!"

Her cry of agony grated on Sorey's ears as he finally managed to find his feet, sword in hand. He watched helplessly as Lailah was slammed violently onto the ground and crushed by the hellion's claw. Instantly, the fire seraph's body vanished in a flash of green, leaving nothing in the hellion's grasp.

The familiar sensation of a seraph returning into his body was an afterthought to Sorey as the hellion stood back up, turning its head to glare directly at him.

A shiver of pure terror ran down his spine.

He shook himself furiously, readjusting the grip on his sword and forcing himself to focus. "Mikleo!" He yelled urgently. His friend snapped his gaze towards him. They nodded simultaneously.

"Luzrov Rulay!"

Their voices rung out in tandem into the night, preceding the flash of brilliant azure blue as they armatized together, with Sorey's body as a vessel. Divine artefact in hand, Sorey opened his now glowing golden eyes and set his sights on the hellion charging heedlessly at their merged form.

"Take this!" Both Sorey and Mikleo roared, drawing the bow back and releasing in one smooth motion.

The night was lit up by flashes of brilliant azure as a large charge of water mana blasted across the meadow, tearing through the air with a howl directly towards their enemy.

Yet the hellion wasn't fazed at all.

Seemingly instinctively, the monster fell into a roll and let the arrow of mana blast harmlessly over its body. Without delay, it found its feet again and burst seamlessly back into its charge towards Sorey.

"This one's tough!" Mikleo's voice rang out urgently. "Don't slack on defense!"

"I know!" Sorey responded, gritting his teeth and drawing the bow back once more, aiming at the hellion getting increasingly closer to their position. "Aim and fire!" He yelled.

Multiple streams exploded out of the weapon, flying at varying angles in a blanket area attack. In retaliation, the hellion simply lifted its claw to shield its body from the assault.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Both Mikleo and Sorey watched in shock and dismay as the hellion's claw deflected the might of the Armatus itself. Various strings of azure mana pinged off the claw, driving rough gouges on the surface of the claw before ricocheting off into the night.

And then it was on them.

"AAGH!" Sorey screamed as the massive blood-red claw slammed onto him, its wickedly razor-sharp fingers tearing into his clothing and drawing gouges of blood from the skin underneath. He watched with wide eyes as the monster stilled, its emotionless mask seeming to consider him as it stayed there, grasping his entire body with its huge claw.

And then something started happening that felt wholly wrong.

The entire arm itself began to pulse, siphoning the power of the Armatus away from him like a leech. Sorey's flickering eyes widened in shock and disbelief as he registered what was happening.

This can't-!

With a fierce tug, the monster jerked its arm out of Sorey. With it came Mikleo's body in its grasp, forcibly disconnected from the Armatus.

"Wh-What?!" Mikleo gasped, wriggling helplessly in the monster's grasp as it held him up high in the air, leaving his legs kicking uselessly in the air. His staff was held ineffectively at his side, his arms pinned by the massive fist engulfing body. "How?!" He let out a cry of agony as the huge fist tightened abruptly. His staff fell into the flowers below, dropped by his limp hands.

Sorey hacked out blood as he stumbled to his feet. "W-Wait!" He cried, beseeching the emotionless hellion holding his friend captive, watching him silently. He fell into a coughing fit, struggling to catch his breath. His blood splattered upon the white flowers between him and his emotionless opponent. Sorey's eyes roamed the battlefield in dismay as he tried to catch his breath.

Alisha laid on the opposite end of the meadow, clutching her broken right arm in agony. Lailah's consciousness inside of him was dim and dull like a meek flame. Mikleo dangled from the hellion's left claw, clearly exhausted and beaten.

And yet… they were all still alive. Sorey's eyes widened in surprise at the realization.

The hellion still stood there, quietly, as if it were waiting for him to make his next move. It was watching him, keenly. Intelligently. There was now no doubt in Sorey's mind that if the hellion had wanted to kill them all in the first place, they would already be dead. So that begged the question…

He dropped his sword onto the flowers.

"What are you-?!" Mikleo grunted in worry, his lungs constricted by the hellion's grasp.

"Sorey!" Alisha yelled urgently from her position on the ground cradling her injury. "Just what do you think you're doing?!"

Ignoring his companions, Sorey took a step forward towards the hellion holding his friend captive, unarmed. "You want something from me, don't you?" He asked openly, meeting the hellion's blood red eyes peeking through the oblique mask.

A distant boom of thunder punctuated the silence that followed.

He put a hand on his chest. "They call me the Shepherd." He proclaimed. "I have the power to purify hellions like you," he gestured towards the hellion, "and turn them back into regular humans. I swear, this doesn't have to be like this!" He pleaded. "I can help you! I can heal you of all your malevolence, I promise!"

He took another impassioned step forward. "Please!"

Mikleo let out a scream as the hellion's fist tightened in warning.

Quickly, hurriedly, Sorey stumbled backwards, holding his palms out placatingly. Frustrated, he yelled, "What do you want?!" His eyes pleading the hellion holding his dear friend hostage.

"Alright, listen!" He shook his head frantically, patting his chest. "Whatever you want from him, take me instead!"

"W-What?!" Mikleo choked out furiously. "Sorey! Don't you dare!"

"Sorey!" Alisha yelled in horror. "You're the Shepherd! This world needs you, now more than ever!" Her eyes turned to Mikleo's suffering form, her expression filled with clear indecision. "Th-there has to be some other way!" She cried uselessly.

Sorey's eyes never left the hellion's piercing red eyes.

"…Please." He pleaded earnestly. "Take me instead." He took a step forward, freely offering his body in return for his friend's. Flowers crunched underneath his boot; stained by his own blood.

The hellion just stared back at him motionlessly, its brilliant red eyes underneath the mask piercing straight through his soul.

Silence.

Then all of a sudden, it dropped Mikleo and leapt off into the night, vanishing without a trace.

Sorey sprinted forward as Mikleo crashed onto the flowers, coughing and heaving. Alisha had managed to get to her feet and began stumbling over to the two of them, fumbling in her pack with her non-dominant arm for some healing gels and bandages. All three of them had wide eyes, warily glancing around in the shadows in case their frightening adversary returned.

SMACK!

"Ow! The heck was that for?!" Sorey groaned, rubbing his cheek.

Mikleo's eyes were positively livid as he picked up his fist from the ground, having slammed it into his friend's face the moment he'd regained enough energy to do so.

"What the HELL, Sorey?!" He screamed, turning his head and coughing up some blood onto the ground. "Just what were you thinking?!" He exclaimed, clutching Sorey's shoulder with a death grip. "Offering your life up to a hellion?! You're an even bigger idiot than I ever thought possible!!"

Sorey winced at his friend's fury. "Sorry, Mikleo. I… I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you." He admitted shakily. "Besides," he reasoned, "that hellion seemed intelligent."

"Intelligent?!" Mikleo seemed on the verge of hysterics. "Sorey! Has living with Gramps and the others not taught you anything?!" He shook his head in disbelief. "Hellions are monsters, nothing more, nothing less!" He swiped a decisive hand through the air. "Don't you remember that fox hellion?!" Mikleo yelled. "It ate Mason! How can you call the same kind of monster that would do such a thing intelligent?!"

"But-!" Sorey began.

"Sorey." He turned to Alisha's serious expression. "Like I said, you are the Shepherd." She shook her head decisively. "If you fall, the world falls as well." Her eyes were firm. "There is no doubt in my mind of that fact. You must treasure your life more than this!" She implored.

"Even if it means sacrificing Mikleo?!" Sorey's temper began to rise as well. "Alisha, are you telling me that given the opportunity to save myself or Mikleo, I should just leave him to die?!"

"Yes, Sorey."

It was Mikleo who spoke. "You're more important that all of us combined." He stated simply. "That's just how it is."

Sorey was lost for words for a second, flitting his gaze between the two people in front of him as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

The silence was abruptly broken by a flash of green and a familiar hum. Lailah appeared from out of Sorey's body, stumbling onto the meadow and coughing laboriously.

"Lailah!" Everyone exclaimed at once, forgetting their previous conversation and moving to help the injured seraph.

"I'm… I'm just fine!" Lailah chirped unconvincingly.

"Hey, take it easy." Mikleo ordered worriedly, cradling the other seraph's head and beginning some healing artes. "You took the hardest blow out of all of us."

Sorey's eyes were deeply disturbed as they roamed over Lailah's bruised and bleeding body. She'd been injured by blunt trauma, whereas no attempts had been made to specifically target her more vital organs. It clearly had been trying not to kill, only to disable. "…Just what did that hellion want from us?" he mumbled under his breath.

"You… you sensed it too, didn't you?" Lailah coughed again, forcing herself to her feet against Mikleo's worried complaints. "That hellion…" The rest of the injured group got to their feet alongside her, staring off to where the hellion had first appeared. "There was… something very wrong about it." she murmured, her breathing steadying. "Something especially unnatural."

Sorey furrowed his brow.

Alisha shook her head in disbelief. "To think that there are that powerful hellions out there in the world!"

"We need to get stronger." Mikleo spoke seriously, reaching down and picking up his dropped staff with severe disillusionment in his eyes. "Much stronger, if we should ever hope to take something as powerful as that on."

"Yeah." Sorey nodded soberly. "…If anything, this is just a reminder of how we need to work harder if we want to help the world." He abruptly blinked, having felt a drop of water land on his forehead. As one, the group turned their heads skyward towards the fully covered heavens as the storm began to break.

"…Am I the only one who thinks our journey just got a whole heck of a lot tougher?" Mikleo asked sardonically as he stared idly up at the clouds as the rain began to pour down upon them.

Lailah glanced at the rest of the group. "Come, now." She urged softly. "Let's find shelter from the rain and heal up before tomorrow." She shook her head, forcibly injecting false cheeriness into her voice and exclaiming, "Things always look better in the morning!"

"Right." Sorey agreed absently, following in the footsteps of his group as they made their way through the soiled meadow. His thoughts kept running over the hellion's mysterious actions.

None of it made any sense.

Above the group, the rain began to fall with vigor, clattering noisily upon the crumpled flowers, washing the blood away.

---​

Velvet Crowe leant back quietly on her solitary perch on an oak tree, watching as the group of humans and seraphim left the flooding meadow far below. All around her, the leaves pattered noisily as they caught large drops of rain, shielding her from the worst of the downpour as the storm broke with a vengeance. A rumble of thunder boomed in the distance, accompanying the howling gusts of wind furiously battering the tree itself.

She had bundled up her disguising cloak and mask and had shoved them in her travel pack, allowing her cascading hair to fall freely once more. Her daemon arm had been dispelled, covered by the ever-present bandages that masked her true nature. Her eyes had returned to their normal shade of brown with the absence of her artes.

The therion shifted slightly in her perch, letting her right leg dangle in the wind while resting her left arm on her left knee. The chains on her well-worn ragged clothing clinked softly amidst the cacophony of the storm. Her eyes were hard as she contemplated the yellowed, frayed bandages loosely wrapped around her seemingly human left hand. A flash of lightning framed her curled-up form in stark shadows.

"…Shepherd." She whispered the word indistinctly into the wind, contemplatively.

Memories from long ago erupted all at once. Faces, once blurry from misuse, suddenly materialized in her mind as clear as day. Fragments of a time long past, indistinct in form yet sharp in hue, made up a mosaic of emotion that tinted her every thought.

She glanced over to her left, surveying the view through the drenched leaves and the downfall. The surrounding mountains of Lakehaven Heights had become obscured in the quickly accumulating fog. The sea of trees surrounding her perch moved in contrasting waves, billowing in the whistling winds. The air was damp and crisp. The storm was battering the uncovered meadows below without mercy, wrenching petals helplessly away into the air. The entire area was quickly becoming thoroughly waterlogged underneath the torrential rainfall.

Velvet watched as the formerly gorgeous blanket of white flowers drowned underneath a rapidly growing layer of water flooding the meadow. Her lips were set in a firm line.

---​

"I'm impressed, Eizen." Someone remarked. "You know a lot about everything."

"Not at all." Came the dismissive reply. "There's so much I don't know. For example, the name of these flowers. That's why I travel. To learn."

She opened her mouth.

"Aldina Alabastergrass."

"That's the name of the name of this flower?" He inquired.

She nodded slowly. "Yes… A long time ago, my brother showed me a picture of it in one of his books. They're fragile flowers. They die quickly on their own."

A pause.

"But if enough of them gather together, they can survive. Fields of them form beautiful white carpets of flowers…" She explained, glancing around at her surroundings. "In some cultures, they symbolize kinship—the bonds between people."

"Kinship… huh."

Laphicet's bright voice rang out sharply in the memory, as clear as if he were there right beside her.

---​

A boom of thunder broke through Velvet's reverie, sending her into the far, far future. Or rather, she reminded herself, the present.

An indescribable mix of bittersweet emotion swirled in her eyes as she brought her hand to massage her temples tiredly. She stayed motionless on her perch for a long while; unfeeling towards the frigid raindrops battering her body.

Suddenly, she clenched her fists. Her eyes opened, once more hardened with determination and drive. She shook her head and took one last glance back down at the meadows below. Floating petals drifted in batches throughout the swampy waters; evidence that a meadow had even existed in the first place being quietly swept away by the wind. There would be no flowers left when the torrential waters finally drained in time. That was just how things worked.

Letting out a huff, her breath misting in the cold air, the therion shifted agilely onto her feet, her steel boots digging deep into the bark of the branch as she transitioned into a crouch. Poised like a hunting bird of prey, she slipped her soaking wet pack onto her back, seated firmly atop her black coat. Ever so steadily, the daemon tensed her stiff limbs, standing up on the branch blowing in the gusting winds. Her jaw was set firmly as she forced herself to look towards the present, not the past.

She had her work cut out for her. And it was time to get started.

With a fire burning in her eyes completely unrelated to her powers, Velvet Crowe pushed herself forwards off the branch, leaping through the leaves of the tree and into the dark night. Down below, the downpour continued to batter what was left of the meadow, rendering what was left of the field of flowers formerly known as Aldina Alabastergrass into nothing but a featureless quagmire of muck and grime. The once-bright world had now been fully enveloped in unadulterated darkness.

Amidst the booming of thunder and the wailing of the wind, the silence of the night was no more.

---​

Author's Note: Hi! Thanks for clicking.

This story is a sequel to the Wanderer of Worlds in the Berseria Fandom. You don't need to have read it to enjoy this story. If you end up liking this fic, I urge you to consider reading the Wanderer of Worlds in between my (likely sporadic) updates! Enjoy!

Oh, and have a Happy New Year, everyone!

- CloudFry, January 1st​, 2019

Addendum: I realize I never mentioned this, however for this story (and all my works for that matter) criticism is very enthusiastically solicited. Please, if you would like, leave a review and tell me how I'm doing, regardless of how scathing it is. I'm always happy to improve my writing and to hear from readers!

Cheers.

(Edited October 23rd​, 2019)

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 1 – Foreigner.

She awoke to the chirping of birds.

Warm, fuzzy sunlight beamed down onto the forest floor, baking patches of exposed, dry grass. A soft wisp of the summer breeze meandered through the trees, conducting a gentle orchestra of rustling leaves and branches as it went. The air was crisp and fresh in the aftermath of last night's storm.

Hummingbirds and bees went about their business, carefully inspecting patches of flourishing flowers under the watchful gaze of the sun. Here and there, the faint rustling of foliage signaled the activity of small animals such as hares and pigs as they searched leisurely for food. Just above the trees, a flock of birds travelled in a synchronized dance, weaving gracefully through the cloudless blue sky.

Velvet watched the group of birds fly as she allowed her body to slowly wake up, staying motionless in the same position in which she'd slept in.

Her legs and arms cramped wildly from staying awkwardly bent all night. The ragged clothing that she wore was still utterly drenched from last night's torrential rainfall. Bunches of stray twigs and leaves were hopelessly entangled within her frayed, uncombed hair, having been caught in it as a result of the storm's howling winds. Crusted mud and stray strands of grass clung to parts of her exposed skin, leaving her feeling wholly unclean.

She didn't pay the discomfort any mind. It had been a long time since such things had bothered her.

Mud squelched gently underneath her steel boots as she stood up, gazing around the small clearing in which she'd chosen to sleep in for the night.

All around her, life continued on. Birds continued to sing, insects continued to buzz, and bugs continued to crawl. If she wanted to, she could've used such a familiar setting and deluded herself into thinking that she was back in her own time. Back when everything was different.

Suddenly, she winced, a flash of pain flitting through her eyes. She glared down at the source of the agony, holding her bandaged left arm out in front of her.

SQUELCH!

The infinitely familiar noise resounded out throughout the clearing. In an explosion of malevolence, her left claw burst outward from its sheath of bandages, extruding out twice as long as her opposite arm. Three deep, irritated gouges bristling in an angry shade of red greeted her, crisscrossing across the back of the claw.

She let out a frustrated huff that turned into an irritated growl as another jolt of pain flew up her arm. Fighting that armatized water seraph had taken its toll. The gouges were markedly deep; she'd need malak artes to speed up the recovery. She shook her head, instantly dismissing the idea. The only person she could rely on at the moment was herself, and nobody else.

A damp breeze blew through the empty clearing occupied by the lone therion, rustling her clothing and disturbing her hair. The metal chains on her outfit chimed softly in the wind.

Ever so slightly visible in the daytime light, tendrils of purple miasma began to seep out from within her, shrouding her in her own sin. Velvet sighed, sliding her eyes shut and standing still, allowing the malevolence to naturally leave her being.

Giving in to the demands of her body, she let her domain expand outwards.

The world all around her seemed to gradually darken, despite the cloudless sunny sky. The air itself felt heavier, while the sounds of birds and insects began to hollow out. Particles of concentrated malevolence began to collect, drifting ominously through the air. A dreadful hum began to resound outwards from the very earth while unnatural gusts of fierce wind festered in the air.

Velvet's hair and clothing whipped in the fierce gales as she held her eyes lightly closed. At her side, her monstrous claw seemed to flourish in the environment, its pulsating surface becoming even more volatile. Waves of malevolence erupted out from her being in waves, bursting outwards and tainting the surrounding landscape. Terrified animals fled away as fast as possible from the unnatural miasma, driven by pure instinct. All traces of the previously peaceful clearing had been eradicated in mere moments.

She felt rather than saw all of this as she stood motionless in the center of it all. She had long ago become aware of the effects of her domain on the world around her. The aura of a hellish being so full of sin that the very earth itself reviled it.

Yet, it had been a long time since such things had bothered her.

"A-a-AAAAAAAHHH!"

The high-pitched scream sliced sharply through the volatile air, snapping Velvet's eyes wide open. She whirled around, her coat flapping in the unnatural breeze, and found herself face-to-face with an intruder in her domain.

The girl, seemingly no more than 8 years old, had her bulging eyes fixed directly on Velvet's form, her mouth agape in horror. She had been frozen solid from fear alone, her two tiny pigtails whipping around in the winds.

For before her stood a monster amidst a whirling vortex of malice and evil.

Velvet reacted instantly, launching herself forwards at a full-tilt sprint through the dirt towards the hapless girl. The poor girl could only watch in horror as the red-eyed monster closed in upon her. She had only managed to take a single step backwards and let out a paltry squeak of fright before Velvet's right hand curved in, slicing through the malevolence in the air and slamming roughly against the young human's left temple.

The girl instantly went limp, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as her fragile body crumpled, toppling away from the blow. Her now limp hands dropped the partially-filled basket of herbs she had been carrying, which fell and landed on its side, spilling its contents all over the ground.

Following smoothly through with her attack, Velvet spun around on her heel and transitioned into a crouch, easily catching the falling girl's torso with her right arm before her head cracked onto the ground. Absently, she dispelled her daemon claw, using the bandaged arm to get a better hold of the girl.

She let out an exasperated sigh.

"That was damn careless." She muttered under her breath, easing the human down onto the grass with easy movements.

The girl's face had untensed, leaving her expression almost peaceful as she laid there next to her fallen basket of herbs. Standing up straight before the girl's unconscious form, Velvet crossed her arms, idly tapping her left bicep in frustration as she examined the human's appearance. The girl's outfit was relatively clean and well-taken care of. Her skin also appeared to be regularly washed, while her properly done pigtails told of the loving care of a paternal figure.

"I take it there's a village nearby, then." Velvet surmised dryly. She glanced to the side. "…At least that means I'll probably find what I'm looking for there."

With a shake of her head, she closed her eyes once more and focused on the malevolence still fountaining out of her being. With practiced effort, she blocked out all other senses and instead reached for the ever-present, simmering spring of malevolence festering deep inside of her.

And then, with a harsh exhale, Velvet forcibly yanked it shut.

Almost immediately, the inherently uncomfortable feeling of suffocating began to rise as the malevolence inside of her rebounded off the barriers she'd erected. Her own body revolted against her, fighting against the harsh repression of its nature. With gritted teeth, Velvet fisted her hands and suffered through the hardship of suppressing her own domain.

All around her, the howling of winds began to die down. The lingering particles of malevolence began to dissipate, while the ominous pressure building in the air lifted slowly. The sun once more began to shine upon the land in the absence of great evil. With the disappearance of the chaos, a blessed silence once more fell upon the forest.

Slowly, Velvet uncurled her hands, taking deep, long breaths as she opened her eyes.

With marked satisfaction, she observed the lack of any malevolence seeping out from her body. She glanced around, finding not a speck of corruption left hanging in the untainted air around her.

Having confirmed the successful suppression of her domain, Velvet turned around and trotted back across the clearing to where her travel pack laid against the tree she'd slept under. It was time to go.

Suddenly, she stopped.

Her head turned ever so slightly to the right, her lips held in a firm line as she glanced at the helpless little girl's body out of the corner of her eye.

After a pause, her steel boots clinked as they were redirected back the way she'd come.

A few minutes later, the therion left the sunbaked clearing with her travel pack slung easily around her shoulder underneath her hair. With her true nature hidden, she was merely another traveler braving the large, dangerous world.

She stepped forward through the brush and left the clearing, headed onwards towards the future.

Meanwhile, the unconscious little girl's pigtails swung gently in the wind that reached her snug perch up on a low tree branch; a location that meant her protection from both predators and bandits. Tied securely to the tree trunk alongside her was her small basket of wild herbs; neatly organized by both type and category.

High up in the sky, the warm sun continued to glow.

----​

Tall grass shifted in the gentle breeze, giving the illusion of soft waves travelling slowly through a sea of flawless green. Idle clouds drifted through the noon sky, casting indistinct shadows down to the ground to act as ships traversing an ocean of grass. A single dirt path cut its way through the field, rising and falling with the rolling hills.

A lone traveler in black trotted steadily onwards down the path, her long raven hair swaying with the light breeze.

Velvet squinted up at the blue sky, gauging the height of the sun as she walked. Her steel boots crunched repetitively in the dirt, meshing with the constant buzzing of insects populating the tall grass on either side of her. The air she breathed was crisp and laden with the fresh scent of nature. Slung across her shoulders, her travel pack bumped companionably against her back, accompanying her every movement with the sound of shifting leather.

Travel was of second nature to the therion. To her, life was always as ever a never-ceasing experience of forward motion.

There was never an end to her path; never a place to return to. Yet she didn't mind; ultimately, the decision had been up to her.

Suddenly, her footsteps came to a halt. Her head snapped forwards, her eyes narrowing in concentration as she focused on what her daemon-enhanced hearing could ascertain at a distance. A low breeze blew down the path, bringing with it the scents of fear and desperation.

"Dad!" The high-pitched voice plea of a boy reached her ears.

"Stay calm, junior!" A man replied, a tremor in his tone undermining his command. "Keep your head and the two of us might just make it!"

"I-I'm not so sure we can!" Came the trembling response.

Accompanying the voices were the snarls of feral creatures. Clearly, there were travelers in mortal danger ahead of her.

After a moment's consideration, the therion burst forwards into movement, slamming her boots into the earth as she sprinted forwards down the path. Her breathing came out smooth and steady as she charged up the hill, her hair slinging behind her like a black cape. Her eyes narrowed as she summited the hill, coming into direct visual contact with the source of the commotion.

A man and a boy stood back-to-back in the center of the path, shakily wielding crude wooden swords against their assailants; a pack of 4 snarling wolves, circling their position with increasingly acute rotations.

The boy was the first to spot her with his desperate, terrified eyes. "H-hey!" He screamed, drawing the attention of the man by his side. "HELP! HELP US! PLEASE!" He cried.

Velvet hadn't stopped running.

She let out a harsh yell as she neared them, effectively drawing the attention of all the wolves to her person. With a rough shove of her legs, she catapulted herself high into the air, throwing the feral animals into a panic as they retreated away instinctively. Dirt and mud flew in the air as she slammed onto the ground and slid to a halt in front of the two travelers, placing herself directly between them and the group of four wolves.

Her cold glare rivaled the ferocity of the desperate animals as they began to advance upon her, evidently undeterred by the presence of an additional human. She raised her left arm up into the sun.

SQUELCH!

With a fierce sweep, Velvet slashed aggressively down with her extended daemon claw, slicing through the air between her and the animals. Her eyes were hard.

"Get out of here!" She demanded with a snarl. "Find your food elsewhere!"

The change in the disposition of the animals was instant.

Tails dropped down and growls turned into whimpers as the pack immediately whirled away and fled. Grass crunched under their paws as they fled away from the humans and into the dense field.

Velvet waited until even her enhanced hearing couldn't register the rustling of grass before turning around and facing the two humans that she'd saved whom were both gaping wordlessly at her with wide eyes.

She raised a single eyebrow in response.

The boy was the first to break out of his shock. "H-Holy cow!" He gasped in awe. "You're amazing, lady!"

"Oh!" With his son's comment, the older man also remembered himself and angled his torso down low in a deep bow. "Words cannot express my gratitude for having saved the lives of me and my son, madam. How can we ever repay you?!"

Velvet waved her massive daemon claw carelessly in the air. "Don't worry about it. It wasn't a problem for me."

With a disgusting squelch, the therion dispelled her claw, leaving her arm in the form that the two non-resonant humans saw. An innocent-looking bandaged arm; nothing more.

For without the presence of her resonance-amplifying domain, the humans of this world had no way to see her true self.

Yet another sign of how much things had changed.

"…You're a real hero. Thank you." The man shook his head in disbelief. "I didn't think there was a single kind-hearted person like you left in the world." He admitted.

At his side, the spiky-haired boy bounced up and down ecstatically, all traces of fear in his eyes having vanished. "You were like, HAH!" He imitated Velvet's leaping charge by hopping in place. "And then, you were like, 'Get out of here!'" He growled with as low a voice as he could manage, aggressively swiping his left arm through the air. "'Find your food elsewhere!'"

Velvet had a wry smirk on her lips. "Yeah, I was there, too." She pointed out dryly to the child.

"You're awesome, you know that?!" The boy exclaimed without missing a beat, trotting up to her with his hands fisted in excitement. "How did you know how to scare the wolves off like that?" He asked.

She shrugged, shifting on her feet with a hand on her hip. "Wolves desperate enough to attack a pair of travelers in broad daylight in such an environment aren't looking for a fight." She explained, tilting her chin down at the boy. "Sometimes," she offered, "you just need to act scary enough so that the scary things run away."

"Ohh…! That makes sense!" The boy breathed.

"Hm." The boy's father had his hand up to his face, contemplatively stroking his stubbled chin. "Indeed, those beasts did seem extraordinarily thin."

He shook his head in dismay, meeting Velvet's eyes. "A sign of the times, perhaps, when even the animals themselves are growing desperate enough to risk dying for their food." He turned his head and spat into the dirt in disgust.

"Humans, animals." Velvet waved her hand carelessly. "A hard line to draw, if you ask me."

"Quite." The man agreed. "Yet there is still value in such a definition." He nodded his head towards her. "Your actions in saving us speak loudly of such."

"If you say so." She shrugged.

Her eyes were drawn to the wooden swords held uncomfortably in their hands. "By the way," she added, "I'd suggest you get something that isn't wooden for travel protection. Those things are next to useless."

Both father and son exchanged sheepish looks as they shamefully examined their wooden swords. "You're… probably right. To be honest," the man admitted, "this is our first time travelling."

"Obviously." Velvet agreed harshly.

She directed her serious gaze towards the father. "Despite how close we are to the capital, it's not safe in any respect." She shook her head. "Not to mention that with war on the horizon, things are bound get to worse. It's like you said." She gestured over her shoulder towards where the wolves had disappeared. "Animals. Conflict brings out the worst in people."

"R… Right." Having been thoroughly lectured, the man's shoulders slumped. "I… suppose I was an idiot for thinking that a few days of travel wouldn't be dangerous."

At his side, his son tugged at his hand. "It's fine, dad." He assured. "Nobody could've known that we would've been attacked by wolves."

"Wrong."

The two of them turned to Velvet, whose arms were crossed.

"You can't take chances. Not with the people you love." Her words were hard, her left fist clenched in determination. "Only a fool would leave the fate of a loved one in the hands of chance."

A gust of wind blew through the field, punctuating the silence that followed the therion's declaration.

"…y… you can't call my dad a fool!" The boy objected heatedly, his earlier admiration having been forgotten. "He's not!"

Velvet raised a single eyebrow in response, unaffected by the boy's anger. "And why is that?" She asked loftily.

"Well… Well…!" The boy's retort was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

The father shook his head silently at his boy before meeting Velvet's eyes. "You… speak the truth, miss." He admitted softly, shamefully. "I… I put both my life and my son's life in danger because of my actions."

"You did." Velvet ignored the wordless glare of the boy as she held the man's eyes. "Now, what are you going to do about it?" She demanded.

He blinked in surprise.

After a moment, he squared his shoulders and straightened his back, squarely meeting the woman's gaze. He nodded sharply. "…I'll make things right. I'll do better."

"Good answer." Velvet replied, satisfied.

The buzzing of insects amidst the summer heat filled the silence that followed.

Abruptly, the man let out a chuckle, shaking his head. "Miss, I believe you've saved me, in more ways than one, today."

Velvet let out an amused huff, shifting on her feet. "If that's the case, I believe I deserve a reward."

"Y-yes, yes, of course." The man nodded deeply, accepting the demand. "Name whatever you want. You shall have it." He openly allowed.

"Tell me how to get to the nearest village from here."

Both man and boy blinked in surprise, exchanging looks.

Velvet rolled her eyes. "Did I stutter?" She drawled, prompting the two of them to snap out of their stupor.

"O-oh! Uh!" Shaking his head, the man pointed up the path. "There's a fork maybe half an hour's worth of travel down the path. Follow the left fork all the way until you arrive at the village." His eyes returned uncertainly to the woman's, as if still in disbelief that she wasn't asking more of them.

"Thanks." Velvet nodded to the two of them and promptly spun on her left heel, easily resuming her brisk pace forward down the path, away from them without another word.

With a rough shake to himself, the man remembered himself and called out a farewell to the quickly receding woman.

"Farewell, miss!" He yelled. "I'll never forget the wisdom you gave me!"

"T-thank you, lady! Thanks for saving us!" The boy added in a holler.

Velvet didn't respond to either of them, moving unceasingly onwards. In her mind, the two humans had already become vague afterthoughts. All she cared about was the information that she had extracted from them.

That was all that mattered.

Once again, the crunching of gravel under her boots became the therion's only companion as she travelled onwards into the horizon.

----​

The sun was setting by the time she arrived at the village.

A thin river weaved its way through the plains around the small unwalled settlement, encircling it in a gentle curve. Wooden fishing piers and boardwalks jutted out at various angles, hanging daintily over the slow-moving river and casting shadows upon the cold liquid. The warm orange-hued sky reflected off the clear waters, embracing the whitewashed cobblestones of the village buildings with a gentle backlight.

Velvet strolled through the main thoroughfare of village, weaving between groups of fishermen returning home for the day and teams of traders packing up their stalls. Her eyes were constantly in motion, scanning the faces in the crowd as she walked through the well-trodden dirt.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small dog turn its head towards her direction, snarling, to the confusion of the woman holding its leash. Almost idly, Velvet allowed her daemon claw to burst out of its bandages at her side, watching the dog's reaction.

Predictably, the resonant little mutt leapt in shock and fright, turning tail and sprinting away, heedless of the leash around its neck. Heads turned towards dog's squealing and the owner's cursing as the woman tried in vain to keep up with the adrenaline-packed sprint of the tiny dog sprinting away from her, its leash dragging on the mud behind it.

Velvet rolled her eyes and kept on walking past the gawking onlookers, unnoticed. With a flick of her wrist, she dispelled her daemon arm, her true nature unbeknownst to the people she walked alongside.

There had been a time, she recalled idly, when things had been different.

A time when she'd been considered the lord of monsters; a time when people had shrieked and scattered from her mere presence alone, turning to the exorcists as their saviors. A time when she had had a place in this world.

Yet now, she was but a stray wolf, strutting freely amongst a flock of clueless sheep. An intruder, in every respect of the word.

Deep inside of her, the malevolence festered.

"Oof!"

She stumbled with a grunt of surprise, having been wrenched out of her swirling thoughts by someone bumping smack into her. Instinctively, her body tensed, her boots pressing into a battle-ready stance.

"Sorey! You idiot! Pay more attention to where you're going!"

Velvet blinked in surprise, untensing her body and turning around.

The boyish face of the Shepherd grinned apologetically back at her, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. The water seraph stood at his side with crossed arms, rolling his eyes at his vessel's idiocy. The princess and the fire seraph were nowhere to be seen; evidently the group had split up at some point.

She had inadvertently bumped into the Shepherd and his seraph at the intersection of the main thoroughfare and a riverside boardwalk.

It was much less crowded in this part of town; empty fishing huts and piers lined the boardwalk, closed down for the day. Velvet absently registered that she'd walked the entire length of the village, judging by the sight of the brilliant orange-hued river flowing softly behind him.

It would seem luck that had favored her, leading her straight to her target.

"Sorry!" The Shepherd apologized earnestly, holding a tome up in his hands in a way of explanation. "I get a little distracted sometimes. My bad."

The water seraph let out a chuckle behind his back. "I pity the humans sometimes for having such a dolt of a Shepherd." He remarked humorously.

"Shush." The Shepherd whispered back under his breath in response, his lips curling in a wry grin.

Velvet watched the interaction with amusement. The two of them were very, very close; that much was clear.

All around them, straggling villagers made quiet steps in the mud past them, finally headed home after a long day of work. High up above, the sun continued its descent down towards the horizon defined by distant mountains. The river seemed to glow ever so brighter, reflecting the brilliant light upon the white paint of the village buildings around them. The entire world had been transformed into one of soft, golden twilight.

Velvet put a hand on her hip, idly shifting her weight as she responded to the Shepherd's initial words.

"It's fine." She replied easily. "I'm well aware of how ensnaring a book can be." She shrugged. "So much so that the reader forgets pretty much everything else around them."

His eyes seemed to shine with excitement at the comment. "Do you read a lot, then?" He asked Velvet curiously. At his side, the water malak rolled his eyes wordlessly at his friend's bookwormish tendencies.

"No." Velvet easily admitted, waving a hand in the air. "But my little brother always drove me up the wall with his reading." Her lips were lightly curved with nostalgia. "That kid always insisted on squinting his eyes out, no matter what I told him."

The Shepherd nodded his head sagely. "I absolutely understand." He held his tome out in front of him almost reverently. "It's just so cool how you can fit so much knowledge and insight into such a small package! There's no way I would ever let myself stop reading them. They're just too interesting not to read!" He exclaimed.

Velvet rolled her eyes at the Shepherd's manic expression. "Something gives me the idea that that you also forget to feed yourself whenever you start a new book." She remarked dryly.

The water seraph chuckled. "She's sure got you pegged, Sorey." He commented.

Heat was crawling up the Shepherd's neck. "W-well," he stammered, shooting his seraph friend a glare before returning his gaze to Velvet, "…yeah, I guess I do that now and then." He grinned sheepishly.

"Now and then?" The seraph scoffed dryly in response. "I have to slap the damn thing outta your hands before you starve yourself most times."

The Shepherd rolled his eyes wordlessly in response before blinking curiously at Velvet.

"If you don't mind me asking, is your brother nearby?" He asked.

Velvet shook her head. "No." She answered, her eyes distant. "He's back home, right now."

"I take it that's not here?" The Shepherd asked softly.

"It's not." She confirmed, meeting his eyes. "It's far, far away from here."

The Shepherd's eyes had taken on an empathetic shade. "That must be hard on you."

Velvet nodded absently in response.

The babbling of the river behind them continued in the background. The shutting of doors and the vague indistinct conversation and laughter of the villagers rang out into the softly lit air.

"…Where are you headed?" She asked abruptly, letting her right hand drop from her hip and perching her other on the opposite side. The chains on her outfit clinked softly with the movement. "You're obviously not from around here, either."

He nodded. "We're headed to Marlind." He explained.

"And after that?"

He gave a shrug. "We're not really sure. I suppose we'll figure it out once we get there."

Velvet absently noticed that the water seraph's eyes had narrowed, now studying her with acute suspicion at her inquiry. She ignored him.

After a moment's consideration, the daemon offered her open right hand to the Shepherd.

"My name's Velvet Davidson." She lied. "I'm looking for my cousin."

"Can I come with you?"

Surprised looks flitted on the faces of both Shepherd and seraph at the sudden request. The water seraph's expression soon morphed into one of guarded wariness, while the Shepherd's eyes widened in curiosity.

"Your cousin?" He parroted. "Do you have any idea where he is?"

"None." Velvet shook her head. "The two of us were travelling together and ended up being separated." She elaborated honestly. "All I know is that he's not here."

"So that's why you want to travel with us, huh?" The Shepherd summarized, putting a thoughtful finger up to his chin.

"Sorey!" The water seraph urgently placed a hand on the man's shoulder, drawing his attention. "You can't seriously be considering letting her come with us?!"

In an undertone voice that Velvet could easily hear with her enhanced hearing, the Shepherd replied, "People shouldn't travel alone. It's just not safe. And it seems we're both headed in the same direction. Why not? We might be able to help her out with her cousin along the way!"

"As admirable as that is," the seraph conceded, "don't you think we have enough on our hands as it is? Besides! She's a non-resonant human that we know absolutely nothing about!" He shoved a hand towards Velvet's form to emphasize his point. "How do we know she's not just going to make off with our stuff in our sleep? You shouldn't just assume these things about people, Sorey!"

"I'm not that much of a dolt of a Shepherd!" He shot back. "And if she does try anything bad, we'll just deal with it."

The seraph facepalmed. "Your optimism terrifies me sometimes."

Shaking his head, the seraph took in Velvet with renewed attention to detail. His boots squelched in the mud as he made his way over to the unsuspecting human. "She's travelling alone, like you said." He pointed out. "From what I understand about you humans, only suspicious individuals do things like that in order to avoid the attention of others."

"She did say she was originally travelling with her cousin." The Shepherd pointed out under his breath.

Completing his circuit around Velvet's unmoving form, the seraph shook his head. "And how do you know she's not lying to you?" He took urgent steps towards his friend, his back to Velvet. "Sorey, listen to me. You can't trust her just because of what she said." He waved a hand towards the woman. "Not to mention the fact that she'll probably only slow us down."

Velvet had heard enough.

SHING!

With a high metallic musical note, the woman's gauntlet blade burst out from its sheath at precisely the same time she raised her right arm, leading to the end result of her razor-sharp sword lightly poking the back of the water seraph's neck.

"You shouldn't just assume these things about people, you know." Velvet drawled dryly, enjoying the shock and surprise that colored the protective seraph's expression as he gaped at her, frozen solid by the kiss of cold metal on his flesh.

"Mikleo!"

Velvet's attention was drawn to the Shepherd's form as he took a few steps forward, his hand on his sword.

With a flick of her wrist, her sword promptly collapsed harmlessly back into its sheath. She crossed her now unoccupied arms and raised an eyebrow at the two agitated travelers. "If I had wanted to steal from someone," she pointed out dryly, "I'm pretty sure the Shepherd and his seraph would be on the bottom of my list, don't you think?"

"You can see seraphim?!" The Shepherd's eyes were wide in surprise.

Gathering himself, the seraph twisted around and conjured up his staff in battle-ready stance. "And you knew Sorey was the Shepherd?!"

"I was born resonant." Velvet lied with a shrug. She turned to the seraph. "And I was there during the Sacred Blade Festival when he pulled the sword out from the pedestal, so I know who he is."

"That's… that's incredible!"

Despite Velvet's actions, the Shepherd seemed utterly fascinated by the notion. "Mikleo!" He cried, turning to the seraph at his side. "A human who also can see seraphim!"

"Sorey…!" The seraph growled lowly, still gripping his staff guardedly. "Is now the time?!"

"I thought I was the only one!" The Shepherd exclaimed, trotting up to Velvet to his seraph's dismay. "So, you can see hellions as well?"

Velvet nodded. "I grew up in a small town on the Hyland outskirts." She lied. "Some seraphim who lived there as well told me about my gift, and about how the world really works."

"…Some stray seraphim out there in the world, it sounds like." Despite himself, the water seraph had untensed and had been drawn in to the conversation, similarly intrigued by the idea of another resonant human.

He gave Velvet a guarded look. "Are they also travelling with you?"

She shook her head. "No." Her eyes were distant. "It's been a long time since I last saw them." She mumbled.

The streets had long since emptied out, leaving only the three of them there at the crossroads. In the distance, the last vestiges of sunlight peeked out over the distant mountains, quickly fading.

"Well! That does it!" The Shepherd declared with a grin, plonking a fist in an open palm decisively. "You have to come with us!"

The seraph at his side let out a drawn-out sigh. "Why did I just know you'd say that?" He grumbled resentfully.

The Shepherd gave him a cheeky grin. "It'll be fine, Mikleo! Besides! You're just as curious as I am about what it's like for a human living with resonance!" He accused.

The seraph just gave a roll of his eyes in response, inadvertently confirming his friend's point.

With a bright smile, the Shepherd extended a hand to Velvet, officially. "Nice to meet you, Velvet! You're welcome to join us. I'm Sorey."

"I know." Velvet responded easily, lifting her hand once more and grasping the Shepherd's extended hand. "I'll try to not slow you down." She drawled as she shook it.

Heat crawling up the back of his neck, the water seraph retorted, "T-That was before I knew you were resonant, alright?!" He pointed out defensively, crossing his arms.

With a chuckle, Sorey gestured to his friend. "This is Mikleo." He introduced. "He can be a little overcautious sometimes."

"Because somebody has to be when it comes to you." Mikleo grumbled resentfully.

Shaking her head in amusement, Velvet took a step forward and presented her hand to Mikleo as well. "Sorry about the sword, I just had to make a point." She apologized dryly.

Mikleo's eye twitched.

With a shake of his head, he uncrossed his arms and grasped the human's hand firmly. "You're lucky Lailah wasn't around to hear that joke." He muttered.

"That's right." Sorey piped up as the two let go of each other's hands. "Do you think they're done shopping by now?"

"Knowing how girls can be? Probably not." Mikleo retorted. He abruptly froze, glancing furtively over his shoulder.

Rolling her eyes, Velvet waved a hand in the air. "Relax. I'm not going to behead you for that comment." She pointed out dryly.

"Ahaha." Sorey chuckled while scratching his cheek. "Better get used to having another girl in the group, Mikleo."

"I suppose I'll have to." Mikleo shrugged helplessly.

"So," Velvet spoke up, "are you letting me stay with your group, then?"

"Yup!" Sorey grinningly confirmed. "As long as it's not a problem for you. I promise."

"…I appreciate it." She returned with a smile.

At her side, Mikleo sighed in resignation. "I suppose me saying anything at this point is just a waste of breath." He blinked, turning to Velvet. "By the way, what's your cousin's name?"

She put a hand on her hip. "Leonex Davidson. Leo for short."

"Alright, we'll keep an ear out for his name wherever we go." Sorey promised. His boots squelched in the mud as he turned his body. "We have two more in our group who should be getting back to the inn by now." He scratched his neck. "We'll have to see how the whole room situation turns out with an additional human in the works."

"How exactly does that work?" Velvet asked curiously, falling into step alongside Sorey and Mikleo as they walked down the empty thoroughfare. "Do you just make the seraphim sleep on the floor or something?"

Sorey laughed nervously. "Well, normally we try and figure out two separate rooms with two beds, but a lot of the time we can't afford it."

"Seriously?" Velvet's eyebrow rose. "Aren't you the Shepherd? Can't you just tell the innkeeper that?"

"Sorey? Using his title for his own benefit?" Mikleo let out a scoff. "Not in a million years."

"Hey!" Sorey grumbled. "Just because I'm a Shepherd doesn't mean that those innkeepers deserve to work at a loss just for my benefit!"

"What, saying you're going to save the world isn't enough of a benefit?" The water seraph raised an eyebrow.

"Well." Sorey hesitated for a second. "No!"

Mikleo rolled his eyes. "And this," he explained to Velvet, "is why we sometimes end up sleeping on the floor while the women get the beds."

"Ah." Velvet remarked. "How noble of you two." She shook her head, looking over the two of them thoughtfully. "…You know," She muttered, "you're not exactly what I expected from a Shepherd."

"Well, what did you expect?" Mikleo grinned. "Some sort of actually competent, actually heroic person?"

"Hey!" Sorey yelped indignantly.

Velvet shrugged. "…I suppose." She mumbled.

Their boots squelching through the mud filled the falling silence as they travelled through the quickly darkening town. All around them, the world was falling asleep. Crickets chirped from their various nests throughout the town. Dogs barked in the distance, calling out to one another. Crows flapped through the darkening sky.

Velvet took the opportunity to consider her current situation. A daemon, travelling alongside a human and a seraph. Not so novel, given her history in this world. She glanced at Sorey's embroidered cloak. What was novel was the fact that neither of them knew her true nature.

And she was determined to keep it that way.

Suddenly, she noticed someone watching her from out of the corner of her eye. She glanced over and found a familiar face peeking out from behind the entrance to an alleyway, watching her with horrified eyes.

The pigtailed girl she'd attacked this morning trembled in her shoes, watching the face of the monster walking plain as day in the middle of her village.

Glancing at her left and making sure that the Shepherd and seraph were looking in the opposite directions, Velvet turned her head and made direct eye contact with the girl. Her eyes narrowed threateningly as she violently squeezed her bandaged hand.

Thoroughly cowed, the girl let out a gasp of terror and turned to run away, but then slipped in the mud in her haste. Her involuntary squeak drew the attention of both Sorey and Mikleo.

Sorey was the first to react, running over to the mouth of the alleyway and helping the trembling girl up onto her feet. "Hey there." He greeted gently, steadying the girl in his hands. "What's wrong?" He asked worriedly.

The girl glanced over in terror as Velvet made her way over as well. Mikleo walked by her side, unseen by the non-resonant child.

Velvet's eyes were gentle. "It's dark out. You should hurry on home." She suggested warmly.

The girl could only nod, wordlessly, her bottom lip trembling.

Exchanging a worried glance with Mikleo and Velvet, Sorey turned back to the child and gave her one last pat. "Take it easy, alright?" He urged.

"I-I will, s-sir."

With one last fearful glance in Velvet's direction, she took off as fast as she could, pelting off into the darkness of the alleyway.

"Huh." Sorey mumbled as he stood up. "That was strange."

"Maybe she was terrified by your extremely underwhelming appearance?" Mikleo suggested wryly.

"…That'd be even stranger." Sorey scratched his head in befuddlement.

Velvet rolled her eyes. "Come on, you two." She urged. "It's getting dark."

"…Right."

Forgetting about the child's odd behavior, Sorey resumed his walk through the twilight, Mikleo and Velvet at his heels.

In the distance, the sun finally set, leaving the empty crossroads by the river in complete darkness. Together, the Shepherd, his Sub Lord, and the disguised former Lord of Calamity travelled together side-by-side, through the shadows.

And so, the first day came to a close.

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 2 – Duality.

Dense fog drifted soundlessly in between the shadowed cliffs of the canyon, suffocating the air and obscuring the rest of the world from sight. Diffused light from the morning sun glowed gently through the miasma, basking the floor of the shallow gorge in a vague milky-white backlight. Sporadic patches of brittle needle bushes laid motionless in the windless air accompanied by dead, leafless trees standing silently in the windless air. The harsh figures of the naked trees created dark, vague silhouettes that loomed out ominously from beyond the silent white void.

"…Ah!" A feminine gasp of surprise rang out, echoing up and down the canyon.

A messily bandaged hand clamped onto Alisha's flailing dominant right arm as she toppled forwards, arresting her uncontrollable momentum.

Velvet held on firmly to the princess's arm whom had accidentally caught her left armored boot on a stray root invading the path's uneven surface. "Easy." She muttered beratingly, pulling her hand back and giving Alisha the leverage needed to recover. "Your arm just healed. Try not to break it the very next morning after."

"R-right." Alisha's face was tinged a slight shade of red as she nodded. "I'll be more careful. Thank you, Velvet." Her armor clanked softly in the quiet misty air as she detached herself gratefully from the other woman.

"You alright, Alisha?"

Worry was clear on Sorey's expression as he trotted back down the path towards them, having quit leading the group upon her initial gasp. "Do we need to take a break?" He asked earnestly.

Saving the young princess from further embarrassment, Velvet answered for her.

"We're fine." She reassured lightly, resting a hand on her hip. "The two of us just happened to be chatting about girl things before Alisha accidentally tripped." She explained conversationally. She blinked, a thought apparently occurring to her. "Did you want to join us, Sorey?"

It was amazing how quickly Sorey's face reddened. "O-oh!" He stammered. "Is that right!" He let out a grunt, having accidentally backpedaled into Mikleo to the seraph's displeasure. "S-sorry, Mikleo!"

He turned back to Velvet's inquisitive face and waved both hands in front of him as if to ward an evil spirit away. "I'm fine, Velvet! You two can chat all you want." His eyes immediately seized onto Mikleo's befuddled face as a way out. "U-uh, Mikleo and I have something to discuss! Sorry!"

Mikleo blinked. "We do?"

"Yep!" Not unlike a lion pouncing on his prey, Sorey slung his arm around the helpless seraph and dragged him away, utterly deaf to Mikleo's complaints. "We'll be going on ahead!" He called back to Velvet and Alisha as he resumed the group's pace down the road with Mikleo in tow.

Velvet shrugged disaffectedly in response. "Suit yourself."

Alisha's laugh was soft and smothered as she giggled into her palm, watching the Shepherd and his seraph bumble off down the foggy road. "I appreciate the save, Velvet." She thanked gratefully once the men were out of earshot. "And I must say, that was remarkably well handled."

"Yes! My sentiments exactly." The two women turned to find a clearly amused Lailah trotting up to them, a bright smile on her face. "Who would've known that all it would've taken to instill terror in the heart of the Shepherd would've been the mere thought of a woman's body?" She hummed, a single finger held thoughtfully to her chin.

Velvet huffed in amusement as the three of them resumed walking together. "Guys like him are laughably easy to scare off." She pointed out. "Mention just about anything about 'girl things' and you'd think you had the plague with the way they take off." Her lips had curved upwards in an unbidden smile.

"Ah, yes." Lailah agreed with a soft smile. "The eternally innocent boyish type. I'm quite familiar with those."

Alisha had a grinningly thoughtful expression on her face as she inspected Velvet's expression. "From the sound of things, you've had a lot of experience in this field." She deduced slyly. "Am I wrong?"

"My!" Lailah clapped her hands in surprise. "Romance stories already, so early in the day?"

Velvet's eye twitched.

"Hm…" Alisha hummed thoughtfully, putting an armored gauntlet up to her chin. "Now that you mention it, we should probably refrain from discussing this topic until after nightfall." She supposed. "Love stories are best told by a campfire, so I'm led to believe."

"I agree completely." The fire seraph nodded wholeheartedly. "That is very wise wisdom to have, Alisha." She turned to the other woman and cocked her head to the side inquisitively. "Given that, would you please mind holding onto your stories until then, Velvet?"

Velvet rolled her eyes at the other two women. "Let's… not jump to any conclusions." She muttered, waving a hand in the air dismissively. "All I meant was that I knew…" she shook her head and corrected herself, "…know a few people as innocent as Sorey. My cousin among them. That's all."

"Oh… I see." Albeit disappointed, Lailah nodded her head understandably. "From the sound of things, you and your cousin are very close… I hope you and he reunite in the near future."

"Yeah." Velvet agreed softly. "That would be nice."

Gravel crunching underfoot filled the silence as the three of them continued to walk onwards. The sound of Alisha's armor and of the chains on Velvet's outfit clinking simultaneously combined to resemble a pair of wind chimes vibrating in the windless air. As they walked, Velvet found her gaze drifting towards the fire seraph, a contemplative frown forming on her face.

Quite familiar… huh?

"…Lailah." She abruptly prompted, drawing the seraph's attention. "Exactly how long have you been around, again?"

Alisha winced.

"Oh my!" As if a switch had been flicked, Lailah's eyes suddenly sparkled with mania as she leapt forwards on her feet, clapping her hands together for emphasis. "Look!" She gasped. "The fog! It's flawless! Just look at how it wraps ever so gently around that tree over there!" She pointed excitedly. "Nature can truly be a such a beautiful thing sometimes, don't you agree?!" She implored, spinning around gracefully back to face the other two women.

Velvet face was locked in a dry deadpan. She turned slowly to Alisha. "Is she…?"

"Yes…" Alisha confirmed with a deep nod. "Lailah has some things that she's not willing to share with the rest of us. This," she gestured in the general vicinity of the seraph's overtly enthusiastic form, "is how she copes with that limitation."

"We should probably keep going before we lose our guiding Shepherd in the fog." Lailah suggested, turning on her heel and strolling onwards.

"…Shall we continue?" She asked the empty air in front of her, her back facing the other two.

"Yes, let us." Alisha agreed, easily letting the fire seraph keep whatever secrets she was holding.

Velvet's brow furrowed as she studied Lailah's back as she too resumed walking, silently contemplating the fire seraph's unusual qualities.

In the distance, the voices of Sorey and Mikleo could be heard clearly through the fog as they discussed the veritable climate of the region and how it could've affected the surrounding terrain in such a way. Somewhere in the outside sky, the morning sun continued to rise, its warmth trying valiantly to breach the thick shield of the fog.

Eventually, Alisha slowed her steps and allowed Velvet to catch up to her side. She turned to her, a worried expression on her face. "Are you feeling alright, Velvet?" She asked quietly, breaking the silence.

The woman in question blinked in surprise at the question. "I'm fine." She stated as an afterthought. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that…" Alisha threaded her hands guiltily, glancing down at her moving feet as she walked. "Last night, you insisted on sleeping on the floor instead of taking one of our beds. I was… worried that you might be tired from poor rest."

Velvet shook her head. "If that had bothered me, I would've paid for my own room. You don't have to feel guilty about something so small as that."

Alisha blinked, closely examining Velvet's expression for any hint of falsity. Amazingly, she found none.

"I… take it you're used to such conditions?" She asked hesitantly.

"I suppose you could say that." The black-coated woman shrugged in response. "I've been doing this for a long time."

"I see…" Alisha trailed off, deep in thought.

A sudden burst of cawing drew the entire group to a halt, drawing eyes towards the sky. A murder of crows materialized in the fog, gliding in synchronized movements as if they were of a single collective consciousness. Together, the group of cackling birds circled lowly around the group, before ultimately deeming them alive and not dead food to scavenge, leaving just as quickly as they'd arrived.

Silence fell once more in the canyon.

In the quiet, Alisha mumbled soft, contemplative words. "…I must admit, you remind me a lot of my master." Her gaze was distant and thoughtful. "In more ways than one."

Velvet blinked. "Your master?"

She nodded, turning and meeting Velvet's eyes. "Lady Maltran, back in Ladylake." She elaborated. "She trained me ever since I was little to become a knight worthy of the kingdom. Everything I am today… it's all because of her." She shook her head in amazement. "Lady Maltran has been to so many places and seen so many things. She's surmounted obstacles so unimaginably overwhelming that they would be positively inconceivable to the average person."

"And…" Alisha fixed her gaze earnestly on Velvet. "Everything I see in my master, I see in you too. Your hardiness, your well-travelled temperament; even the way you hold yourself; honestly, the resemblance is uncanny."

She held a fist up to her chest in determination. "…I genuinely aspire to become as competent as both of you, someday." She confided.

"Maltran… huh?" Velvet mumbled, committing the name to memory. "Well…" She shook her head. "I can't say anything about your master. But what I can tell you is…"

She abruptly turned on her heel and began walking once more through the rough pathway, her long raven hair trailing behind her.

"I'm not a person to look up to." She muttered as she left. "That's all."

Alisha was left standing there, her hand on her chest, staring at the receding form of the enigmatic traveler in confusion. All around the lone princess, the fog seemed to churn.

----​

"Sorey… a… are you sure?"

"It might look and smell a little funny, but you'll never know unless you try! Come on, Mikleo. Let's eat together."

A drawn-out sigh. "Why do I get a bad feeling about this…?"

The shuffling of boots crunching on well-worn gravel transitioned into the rustling of clothing as two people sat down on the ground.

The hollow scraping noise of a wooden spoon leaving a wooden bowl rang out. "Alright, here goes!"

"Yeah…" Another wooden spoon was raised from a different bowl in tandem with the first.

Together, the sound of noisy slurping rang out into the fresh mountainside air.

A pause.

"…AAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!"

"…HAAAAAAAGHHH!"

Velvet's eyes snapped open; her light nap having been abruptly snatched from her by the piercing screams of two youthful idiots. She pushed off the lone tree she'd been sleeping against and got to her feet, tensing her muscles and glancing around wildly.

The group had stopped for lunch on a shadowed section of flat land relative to the surrounding rough, downward-rolling hills angled towards the vast valley far below. The fog that had confounded them earlier in the day had dissipated the moment they had begun the descent down into the valley, allowing the bright midday sun to beam down onto the hills covered by bright green grass and sparse patches of foliage. The campsite they had found a little way off the main road had been wreathed in one such patch of foliage, allowing the group a comfortable place to rest and prepare some food to eat.

The food in question had been the source of the commotion. Velvet did a double-take.

"H-HAAAH! A-Ack! It-it burns! Agh!"

Tears were rolling down Sorey's face as he rolled on the floor, getting dirt on his well-worn Shepherd's cape as he did so.

Mikleo wasn't faring much better. "I-it really, really does-! Gah!"

The water seraph was hunched over on the ground and actively casting a low power twin-flow arte to rinse his mouth in a vain attempt to remove whatever horrid taste he'd tasted.

Velvet crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, slowly turning to Alisha and Lailah for an explanation. Both ladies were sitting next to each other in front of the pot hanging over the simmering campfire, watching the two men suffer with wide eyes. Velvet jerked a thumb towards the suffering duo. "The hell happened here?"

Alisha had a hand over her mouth in a mix of amusement and horror. "I… I don't think Lailah's cooking sat well with them..."

Velvet stared. "…Seriously?" She glanced once more over to the two boys rolling around helplessly in the dirt and kicking their feet up in the air. "Lailah did this?" She asked incredulously.

The fire seraph in question had all her fingers pressed up on her forehead in pure disbelief. "I only added a few extra of those peppers I found next to the creek to the soup! I… I had no idea that they would be that strong!" She seemed on the edge of tears as she watched Sorey and Mikleo suffering across the campfire from her. "All I wanted to do was to add a tiny bit more flavor! I was just… afraid the soup would be too bland…!"

"M-Mikleo!" Sorey panted, crawling over to his friend, his words slurred and barely intelligible. "Waturh! Waturh!" He pleaded helplessly.

"G-gimme a sec!" The seraph's eyes were squeezed tight in agony as he cradled his head. "It's h-hard to cast like this!"

"Haaah! Hawht! It's too-Hehk!" Sorey gagged once more, hunching over in agony.

Lailah's hands fell to cover her face entirely in mortification. "Oh, it's all my fault!" She moaned. "How could I have failed so badly? Oh, Sorey, Mikleo, I'm terribly sorry!"

Her apologies were abruptly halted by a finger poking her shoulder. She blinked, her hands falling from her face as she registered someone sitting down next to her. "Velvet?"

Without a word, the other woman reached over and picked up a full bowl of piping-hot soup from besides the campfire.

Alisha let out a small gasp of horror, covering her mouth in shock. "Wait you aren't really going to-?!"

On the other side, Mikleo had recovered enough to dimly register what was going on. He scrambled to his knees urgently. "What are you, crazy?!" He yelled. "That's poison!"

Sorey's head shot up at this. "Velvet!" He cried, crawling forwards. "Th-the soup's too strong! Don't-!"

To their joint horror, the woman calmly brought a full spoon to her lips and tilted her head backwards, sliding the red-hot liquid inside. Her eyes were closed as she seemed to taste the flavor while her arm fell down, gently settling the empty spoon back inside the full bowl. Her eyes opened to find a wide-eyed Lailah staring at her.

With a light huff, a completely unaffected Velvet set the bowl back onto the ground next to the campfire.

"…You need to remove the pepper seeds."

Mikleo and Sorey exchanged looks of pure astonishment. Alisha blinked in surprise. Lailah was frozen in surprise.

"It might be a good idea to use less peppers in general as well. Also," nonchalantly, Velvet pointed to the simmering pot of stew hanging over the campfire, "from the look of the texture, you went way too heavy on all of the seasonings." She observed. "You have to remember, that when it comes to cooking, moderation is key. Keep that in mind at all times."

Velvet gave the fire seraph a light smile. "…But as far as a first try goes, it's honestly not the worst I've ever tried." She nodded firmly. "If you keep it up, I'm sure you'll get better. Don't stop trying to improve your cooking, and you'll be a master in no time." She finished encouragingly.

Lailah's jaw hung wide open as she stared uncomprehendingly at Velvet. After a moment, the fire seraph finally registered all of the woman's words and intentions.

A wide, bright smile appeared on her face as brought her hands together in a decisive clap, reestablishing her determination. "Oh, Velvet!" She cried brightly, tilting her head along with her hands. "Nobody's ever said such things about my cooking before! I can't tell you enough how much that means to me!"

She grasped Velvet's bandaged hand with both hands. "Thank you, thank you!" She sang as she shook the appendage up and down.

"H-hey!" Velvet grumbled. "Knock it off!"

Alisha chuckled into her palm as Lailah eventually released Velvet's arm. "Apparently, the latest member of our group is also a culinary expert." She remarked warmly with a fond smile. "You are really full of surprises, Velvet."

"No kidding." Mikleo muttered lowly, jerking his legs and forcing himself into a sitting position in front of the campfire, giving the contents of the simmering pot a sour glare. His eyes went to Velvet's imploringly. "And just how did you manage to eat that without batting an eye?"

"Yeah, that was crazy!" Sorey seemed in awe of Velvet's apparent immunity to poisons. "It was so unbearably strong for me that I'm still a little dizzy, even now. But you didn't even flinch!"

Velvet shrugged easily. "My cousin's cooking is worse. Let's just leave it at that."

"…Worse?!" Alisha shuddered instinctively, putting a hand up to her chest. "Worse that what just happened to Sorey and Mikleo?!"

Lailah had stars in her eyes. "So I really am not the worst cook in the world!" She gasped.

"…You find the silver lining in everything, don't you, Lailah?" Mikleo muttered sourly.

"Yeah… That would make sense..." Sorey addressed Velvet's explanation. "Having a cousin be that bad of a cook must've acclimatized your sense of taste, in a manner of speaking. That's quite impressive."

Lailah hummed, turning to Velvet. "Between you and your cousin, I take it you're the better cook."

Velvet pointed out dryly, "That's not really a high standard to meet."

"Can we have you cook next time, then?" Mikleo muttered, turning his head and spitting some residual taste out of his mouth.

Laughing, Sorey wrapped an encouraging arm around the water seraph's shoulder. "While I would like to try some of Velvet's cooking," he gave a nod in the woman's direction, "I also do want to give Lailah's another chance, sometime!"

He grinned brightly. "I'm also sure you'll get better, Lailah! Just like what Velvet said." He squeezed Mikleo closer to his side. "And I promise, the two of us be here every step of the way to let you know how it tastes!"

"Hey! Leave me out of this!" His seraph friend grouched, wrenching Sorey's arm off of him and retaliating with a jab to his friend's stomach. The two of them instantly devolved into a childish jabbing match as the women watched on in exasperation.

Alisha leant back on her bent legs and rested her weight on her palms behind her, shaking her head at Sorey and Mikleo's antics. "Oh!" She blinked, glancing over at Velvet. "About your cousin," she prompted conversationally, "do you mind if I inquire as to the story between you and him? It sounds like there's quite the tale there."

"A wonderful idea, Alisha!" Lailah agreed, settling herself back in her seat while expertly managing her flowing dress underneath her. "Now that we've finally had a break from travelling, I think now is the perfect time to officially introduce ourselves to each other."

"That sounds great!" Sorey eagerly settled down as well, crossing his legs and resting his gloved and ungloved hands on opposite knees. "How about it, Velvet?"

"I suppose." With a shrug, the woman obliged, also getting comfortable on the ground with her right arm resting on her right knee. "There's really not much to tell for myself."

"Somehow, I doubt that." Mikleo remarked wryly, settling himself down cross-legged on the dirt.

"Yes." Alisha agreed. "You seem like quite the character, Velvet."

"Well, if you say so." Velvet shrugged and idly tilted her head upwards, letting her long hair slide on the rough gravel behind her as she gazed up into the clear blue sky. Her eyes grew contemplative.

"…I come from an obscure, small town in the outskirts of Lakehaven Heights." She began. "There, in that peaceful town, I grew up with my brother, alone." With her daemon-enhanced vision, she watched a lone hawk flying through the skies high above.

"Was he resonant as well?" Sorey's voice was soft and curious.

She watched as the hawk disappeared behind an errant white cloud. "Yes. We both were."

She turned her head down to meet the faces of the people she was lying to. "Like I said, there were seraphim living in that town as well as us. They helped guide the two of us into living with our resonance and allowed us to mesh seamlessly with other normal humans."

"I can't even begin to imagine such a life." Alisha admitted softly, threading her gauntleted fingers together. "The past few weeks ever since I became Sorey's squire have been positively mind-boggling, at times bordering on overwhelming." She shook her head. "To think that there was so much in this world that I had not seen for so long! Seraphim, hellions, blessings, domains, malevolence; all of it. To live with such knowledge from birth…!"

Velvet shrugged. "We managed."

"And your cousin?" Lailah prompted.

"Leo…" Velvet's lips were curved in a soft, nostalgic smile. "Leo and I ran into each other completely by accident, one day out of the blue." She recounted. "I hadn't even known I had had a cousin up until we discovered that we were related later on."

"A long lost relative, then?" Mikleo blinked. "Was he resonant as well?"

Velvet nodded. "When we met, he had a seraph travelling the world with him. A little wolf pup called Hawk. That's how I knew, instantly, that he was different."

"Hawk…" Sorey's brow was furrowed. "A stray wolf seraph? Voluntarily travelling with a human?"

"Strange, but not unheard of." Lailah remarked softly with a nod. "I'm sure the fact that Velvet's cousin could see him played a large role in allowing a human and seraph to bond together."

"Seeing one other does indeed mean a lot." Alisha agreed quietly. "I myself can attest to that fact directly."

"…Yeah." Sorey nodded seriously. "It must be difficult to believe in something you can't see."

"Such is the problem of coexistence between humans and seraphim." Lailah agreed lowly.

Sorey's brow furrowed deeper.

Meanwhile, Mikleo's mind was racing as he considered all of Velvet's story. "A brother, a sister, and a cousin… all of whom were resonant from birth." He murmured under his breath. "That… would suggest that resonance is an intrinsic human trait passed on through blood."

His eyes met Velvet's. "What about your parents?" He asked. "You said you and your brother lived alone?"

"My parents died when I was very young." Velvet shrugged. "I'm afraid can't tell you anything about them."

"Then why did you and your cousin begin travelling, while you brother stayed at home?" Alisha asked.

Velvet shook her head. "That's… a bit of a long story." She muttered, effectively declining to elaborate.

"…A tale for another time, then." Lailah assured, smartly recognizing Velvet's hesitance and putting an end to the conversation. She bowed her shoulders forwards gratefully. "I thank you for sharing your story with us, Velvet."

"Yeah." Sorey nodded deeply. "Who knows? This information might be key in figuring out how resonance really works in humans, down the line."

"About that," Mikleo spoke up, "wouldn't it be fair for you to say something about yourself, too? All she really knows is that you're the Shepherd, and nothing else."

"O-oh. Right." Sorey grinned abashedly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry! I get a little carried away with my thoughts sometimes."

With a plonk of his fist on his palm, Sorey turned to Velvet, officially introducing himself. "Mikleo and I grew up in Elysia; a place where seraphim dwell high up in Lakehaven Heights. We only recently came down to explore the world of humans for the first time." His eyes seemed to shine as he held a fist up in the air; proof of his dedication. "And we have a dream for our travels. That is to explore ancient ruins all over the world!"

Velvet cocked her head to the side. "Ruins?" She asked. "What for?"

Alisha smiled. "One could call them Sorey's calling card of sorts. Him and Mikleo's."

Lailah reflexively covered her wry smile with a fan of casting cards. "It is quite a sight whenever the two of them stumble upon an ancient temple. Given the chance, they could talk sunrise to sunset about an edifice without stopping for breath!"

"Haha, I guess I can't deny it." Sorey grinned sheepishly and turned earnestly to Velvet, answering her question, "I believe that the secrets contained in the ruins from ages past hold the key to a bright future." His eyes were bright. "That's why I explore them. To help bring about that future."

"A future… where humans and seraphim might one day live in harmony together!" He declared, a determined grin on his face. "That… is my goal!"

Velvet carefully studied the Shepherd's face. To her surprise, she found nothing but true dedication in those eyes.

Humans and seraphim… huh? She pursued her lips in thought.

"And that's," Mikleo pointed out dryly, "why he decided to take up the mantle of Shepherd."

"For with the title came the power of purification, allowing the Shepherd to purify hellions." Lailah finished, nodding slowly. "That is what happened during the Sacred Blade Festival, when Sorey offered himself up as my vessel."

"Now," Mikleo explained, "our group is travelling the world in order to broaden our views and to better prepare ourselves for the Shepherd's true purpose."

His true purpose. She knew instantly what he was referring to.

Sorey nodded seriously, meeting Velvet's eyes. "And that is quelling the Lord of Calamity himself. The source of the world's malevolence."

Velvet didn't blink, nodding slowly and neutrally at the declaration.

"…And as the Shepherd's squire," Alisha put a fist on her chest, "my duties are to support Sorey's efforts to quell the hellions across the land."

"Marlind would be one such stop along the way. Alisha's been sent there by the council of Hyland." Mikleo explained. "Like we said, we're not so sure where we're going after that."

"But we'll figure it out!" Sorey promised brightly. "This is our world to explore, after all."

With a dry chuckle, the water seraph nudged the man. "As long as you don't get too carried away. Like you always do."

"Come on! I do not!" Sorey denied indignantly.

"But of course!" Lailah agreed brightly, smiling and tilting her head to the side. "As they say, one foot forward followed by another, with our eyes not far behind!"

"I'm… not so sure that's how the saying goes, Lailah." Sorey pointed out grinningly, scratching his cheek with his index finger.

"Huh?" Lailah blinked rapidly in surprise. "Wait, really?"

As the conversation began to drift away naturally, Velvet stayed quiet, studiously yet discreetly studying each and every member fo the group, considering all the information she'd just uncovered.

SNAP!

Velvet abruptly stilled as she registered the snapping of a twig in the distance.

She glanced to the side. The others were still chatting along merrily over the simmering campfire, ignorant to the chorus of sounds of things approaching up from all directions that only Velvet could hear. Subtly, she moved her head and spied a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye.

Having confirmed the presence of an impending attack, the woman returned her head to forward position, mentally registering the locations of as many attackers as she could with her auditory senses alone.

And then she waited.

"Whatever you say!" Sorey was waving his hand dismissively in the air as he stood up.

Mikleo was adamant as he too shot to his feet. "I'm telling you!" He grumbled as he bent down and collected the wooden bowls lying around. "I'm not scared of dogs!"

"What's this about?" Alisha asked curiously as she trotted over, the now-empty pot of stew held in her hands.

"Oh," Sorey turned to her with a bright grin on his face. "Mikleo saw a dog in the village yesterday and just about bolted halfway down the street thinking it was chasing him."

"Hey! That's totally not what happened!" The seraph denied hotly.

Alisha hummed, touching a finger to her chin. "This was while Lailah and I were shopping, correct?"

"Yeah." Sorey nodded, kneeling down and kicking dirt onto the residual embers of the campfire. "As it turns out, the dog had run away from its master for some reason. I barely managed to catch it's leash as it ran by me!"

Behind him, Mikleo grumbled sourly, "You should've just let it scamper off."

"Hey, don't be like that, Mikleo." Sorey nudged him playfully. "Just because you're afraid of dogs doesn't mean you have to be mean to them."

"I'm not afraid of dogs!"

"Oh my!" Still sitting down on the ground, Lailah blinked in surprise at Mikleo's yell. "That was quite the outburst!"

"Well." Alisha chuckled into her palm. "It would seem that we've found Mikleo's weakness."

"I guess so." Sorey laughed in agreement. "Funnily, he never had any problem with the goats in Elysia."

Mikleo's expression was sour. "That's because they were used to us Seraphim. Down here, all the dogs just think that we're evil monsters."

"Then why does Lailah not have any trouble with dogs?" Alisha asked curiously.

"Well that's because… because…!" Mikleo struggled to find a way to save himself. He couldn't.

Accepting defeat, he simply turned his nose up into the air and looked away indignantly. "…T-that's because Lailah isn't afraid of them, alright?!" He admitted heatedly. "That's why!"

Sorey and Alisha burst into simultaneous giggles at the seraph's red-hot face. "…Looks like we got him." Alisha observed wryly.

"Haha! I'll say-WOAH!"

"SOREY!"

CRASH!

One moment, Sorey and Alisha were laughing at Mikleo's expense, the atmosphere light and playful. The next, Sorey was down on the ground with his sword barely out of its scabbard, furiously wrestling the huge serpent hellion that had pounced on him. Blood splattered on the ground as the hellion's long fangs bypassed the Shepherd's thin sword and raked shallow gouges across his clothing.

In that same instant, the hellions that had been lying in wait around the perimeter of the campsite had charged in, overwhelming the group.

Alisha clumsily dropped the empty cooking pot in her hands, causing it to fall down in a freefall as she dodged a different pouncing snake hellion. Trying to run to Sorey's aid, Mikleo was intercepted by a group of snake hellions forming a tight predatory circle around him. Lailah barely managed to get to her feet and hop out of the way of another group of hellions swarming her position.

The falling pot hit the ground with a clank.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The world devolved into chaos as the Shepherd's group fought back against the horde of hellions with everything they had. Flashes of azure and ruby rivalled the sun in brilliance as artes materialized and flew every which way. Earth-shattering explosions resounded out through the ground as mana impacted everywhere, casting shards of gravel high up into the sky. Cold hard steel whistled through the air as weapons flew out of sheaths, swung in wide, deterring strikes. Yells and grunts rang out into the noon air; proof of the group's stout and unwavering emotional strength as they rallied against the attack.

"Alisha!" Mikleo yelled urgently, swiftly clubbing his staff against the back of a serpent's head and knocking it unconscious. He swore as another serpent quickly took the last one's place, blocking his path forward. "Sorey needs help!"

"I'm on it!" The princess's expression was carved and determined as she leapt backwards, dodging a snake's venomous fangs. Her armored boots slid in the gravel before finally finding hard purchase. Her legs tensed.

With a fierce cry, the princess of Hyland leapt up and into the air, soaring clean over the offending snake, her spear acting the part of the angel's judgement. The squealing of the snake was an afterthought to Alisha as she landed and pivoted on her left foot, twisting her spear and forcing the impaled, writhing body of the snake hellion to fly to the side and away from her. Quickly as she could, she broke out into a sprint and raced away from her pursuers, running to her liege's side.

Suddenly, massive claws burst out from out of the nearby foliage, seeking to rend her flesh in half. She cried out in alarm, barely managing to dive out of the way of the massive attack, tumbling over herself in the gravel. She grunted, quickly finding her feet under her as she hefted her spear, taking in the massive form of the leader of the hellions as it slid fully into the campsite.

A shiver of terror ran down her spine.

Meanwhile, Sorey's blood-soaked grip was perilously slick as he wrestled with the heavy snake wrapping around his torso. Its thick green scales were near impossible to find purchase on with his hands, leaving him the only option of holding his sword horizontally to block the serpent's mouth from reaching his neck. The serpent's snarls filled his ears as he struggled as hard as he could for his life.

With a grunt, Sorey abruptly twisted his torso around and forced both his and the snake's body to roll over.

Capitalizing on the snake's disorientation at the sudden move, Sorey let go of the blade of his sword with his left hand and pulled his arm back as far as he could allow. With a cry, he slammed his fist on the soft underside of the snake's jaw, feeling a satisfying crack of bone in response. The serpent squealed in agony, its entire body untensing instinctively.

Knowing that this was his last chance, Sorey tossed his sword up and into the air, catching it firmly with a fisted grip. Urging the powers vested within him to flow through his sword, he let out a cry and sunk the blade into the snake's underbelly.

Blue flames erupted outwards, engulfing the writhing hellion. Now freed, Sorey quickly forgot about the purified hellion and got to his feet, panting and heaving as he finally recognized the wild chaos taking place all around him.

"Sorey!"

He turned his head towards the source of his name just in time to instinctively raise his left hand and catch the wrapped gel that sailed his way.

Velvet gave him a firm nod in respect, her unbloodied gauntlet blade held at the ready. "Nice job." She said concisely, gesturing at the hellion that the Shepherd had fought off single-handedly.

"Thanks!" Sorey returned, quickly breaking the packaging of the gel and roughly slathering the medicine all over his wounds. He glanced over at the woman, whom was keeping her distance away from the rest of the hellions and deterring approaching ones with kicks and slashes. "Be careful!" He warned urgently, moving forward with his drawn sword at the ready. He stood in front of Velvet and slashed forward, blue flames billowing out from his sword. "Leave the hellions to us. Just stay safe!" He urged over his shoulder.

Velvet nodded wordlessly in response.

She watched as Sorey charged forward, headed to aid the rest of the group. Her gauntlet blade was held limply at her side with no intention of usage. Her eyes were as keen as a hawk's as she studied the Shepherd's movements.

He was resilient. That was good. Yet…

She watched as Sorey slashed down once more, only to meet no resistance as the hellion he was attacking slithered backwards agilely in a dodge. He grunted in surprise, barely managing to guard against the hellion's counterattack with his sword.

The Shepherd's sword skills were abysmal.

Velvet shook her head softly in disapproval. She had thought that his skills were novice and inexperienced when she had tested him back in the meadow by Lake Perniya as well. This would not do.

She would need a much stronger tool to accomplish the task she had in mind.

"Everyone! I am in need of aid!"

Alisha's cry of help drew Velvet's attention. She looked over and found the princess in a dire battle against a massive hellion. Almost twice as high as normal human, the monstrous mutated snake-woman hellion screeched as she lunged forward, her deformed clawed hands out for blood.

"Alisha!" Sorey yelled, getting in-between the two combatants and slashing forwards with his flame-engulfed sword. Steel and claws met in a blinding flash of sparks. The Shepherd was cast backwards from the force, crashing into Alisha. The two of them went down in a tangled bunch, rolling backwards in the gravel away from the huge hellion.

"Damn!" Mikleo swore, finishing an arte and causing a bolt of water to pierce the hellion hounding him. "Sorey! Alisha!" He yelled.

Shaking his head to clear his head, Sorey managed to untangle himself from Alisha, only to find that his sword had fallen from his grip in the tumble and was lying between him and his opponent. His opponent which was quickly closing in on the two of them, out for blood.

He opened his mouth to armatize.

"Outta my way!"

Sorey gaped as a blur of black leapt in front of him, raven hair flowing gracefully behind her as she attacked. Velvet yelled fiercely as she lashed out with her sword, driving the snake-lady backwards in a dodge. Not letting up, she twisted around and kicked outward, her iron boot shining in the noon sun.

SHINK!

The hellion shrieked in agony as a hidden blade burst out from within the woman's steel boot, drawing a rough gouge across its exposed abdomen. Velvet quickly drew her foot back close to her and leapt backwards, dodging the hellion's retaliatory tail strike. "Mikleo!" She barked urgently. "Now!"

"R-Right!" Mikleo nodded sharply, finally finding some distance between the remaining hellions and raising his staff towards the massive adversary. "Here goes!" Mana whirled around him in a violent influx, jerking his clothing and hair around as the spell finalized.

"TWIN FLOW!"

Two spears of water burst outward from the tip of his staff and blasted across the campsite, directly over the extinguished campfire to spear the hellion through the chest. Its cries resounded outwards as it fell into a crumpled heap onto the ground.

"Alright!" Mikleo yelled. "Sorey! Now! Purify…! Huh?!" He faltered, having registered the fact that Velvet had not stopped attacking after his arte.

"Got you!" Velvet snarled decisively, sprinting forward through the gravel towards the fallen hellion. She raised a sword high in the sky.

SQUELCH.

Her gauntlet blade sliced cleanly and deeply down across the hellion's body; through both flesh and scales. Blood splattered on the ground, having been extracted from the victim's skin with the blade.

Naturally, easily, Velvet's body pivoted around with the slice. She raised her sword once more to deal the final blow, letting out a fierce battle cry.

CLANG!

She grunted in surprise, registering Sorey's boyish face staring right back at her. The metal of his ceremonial sword squealed as it was pressed up against her cold steel gauntlet blade.

"What are you doing?!" Sorey implored, his teeth gritted under the weight of her strength.

Blinking, Velvet raised her sword arm to the relief of the Shepherd. "…What?" She asked incredulously, letting her bare blade hang loosely by her side.

"The hell do you mean, 'what'?!"

Velvet looked over her shoulder and was surprised to find the rest of the group standing behind her, having taken care of the rest of the other hellions. Mikleo had been the one to speak. The water seraph was now staring at her incredulously with a guarded grip on his staff. Alisha had a hand on her mouth in horror. Lailah's expression was uncharacteristically serious as she studied Velvet in a new light.

Velvet turned back to Sorey and watched as the Shepherd raised his sword in the air, flames clinging to its metal, and waved it over the form of the bleeding hellion. With a flash of blue, the hellion reverted into the form of a human woman, lying there in a pool of her own blood.

Sorey's sword returned to its sheath with a deafeningly loud ring in the silence. His back was to Velvet as he stared at the form of the hurt woman at his feet.

The bright, cheery afternoon day suddenly seemed at odds with the seriousness in the air.

"…Heal her, would you, Lailah?" He mumbled lowly.

Behind Velvet, Lailah nodded. "Yes, of course." She walked slowly past Velvet and kneeled down to the human. "…She should be just fine after some treatment." She mumbled to Sorey, beginning to channel mana.

"That's good." Sorey's words were soft.

A dry breeze suddenly blew, rustling the foliage surrounding the clearing and playing with the clothing of the group. The dull hum of Lailah's healing artes filled the silence.

Slowly, Sorey turned around, his boots crunching on the gravel. He met Velvet's eyes directly with uncharacteristically hard eyes. "…You were going to kill her." It was a statement. Not a question.

Velvet blinked. "…Yeah." She nodded. "Is that… a problem?"

"You're damned right it's a problem!"

She turned, meeting Mikleo's furious eyes as he stomped over. "You were just going to go ahead and kill someone in cold blood!" He accused.

"She was a hellion, wasn't she?" Velvet pointed out in confusion.

"A hellion who was originally a human!" Mikleo yelled.

Sorey took a serious step forward, meeting Velvet's eyes. "Velvet." He uttered lowly. "We don't kill."

His hand rose to the side, pointing at the path ahead. His eyes were firm.

"And if you do, then you have no place with us."

A stray breeze blew through the land, rustling the leaves overhead and the brush nearby, punctuating his ultimatum. His meaning was clear.

Velvet stared. Is he for real?

Slowly, she got over her astonishment and recognized the fact that this naïve boy in front of her was dead serious. With an internal sigh, she realized that the only way for her to stay with the group would be to comply.

Gathering her wits, she nodded, slowly.

"…Alright." She muttered.

"I suppose… it's different for all of you, since you have the power of purification." With a loud click, she sheathed her gauntlet blade and put a hand on her hip. "I'll leave the hellions to you all, then."

And with that matter having been dealt with, she turned on her heel and weaved between Lailah and Alisha, walking off out of the campsite and towards the field. "I'll be back in a few minutes." She muttered under her breath, heading off to cool her head.

She could feel the eyes of the group digging into her back as she left.

A dry breeze began to blow through the fields, disturbing the lands far and wide.

----​

Crickets chirped, filling the night with a gentle chorus of ambient song. Up above, the waning moon hung quietly in the starry sky. Sorey's boots crunched in the grass as he trotted outwards through the night, idly fingering the pommel of his ceremonial sword sheathed at his side as he walked. Behind him, the vague glow of the group's distant campsite shined in the middle of the field; the only source of illumination in a sea of moonlit darkness.

He let out a sigh, finding a small boulder amidst the hip-tall grass and settling down on it with a pensive expression. He rested a foot high up on the slanted boulder and propped his elbow on his knee, his eyes distant.

Velvet Davidson…

A murderer.

His brow furrowed as he tried to reconciliate the vicious, violent fighter he'd seen with the hardened yet well-meaning traveler he'd been travelling with for the past day.

It was too difficult a task for him to achieve.

Just how could a person like her, who would be so kind to Lailah by encouraging her cooking, be so horrific as to attempt to commit the worst sin imaginable? Just how did one reconciliate the helpful traveler with the sinful survivalist he had witnessed?

"…I suppose…" He mumbled to himself into the night sky. "…That killing was the only way she could survive against the hellions."

He nodded to himself, almost hurriedly. "…Yeah. That sounds right." He felt almost relieved at the realization. That killing was a habit borne out of necessity, not out of malice.

Yet… did that justify the act?

Sorey sighed. He didn't have the answers. He didn't have anything, yet. With an idle tilt of his head, he stared up at the moon contemplatively, considering the newest addition to his group. He blinked, realizing that the moon wasn't there anymore.

It had been blocked out by a rapidly approaching cloaked figure, falling directly towards him.

With a yelp of surprise, Sorey barely managed to leap backwards off the boulder before the figure slammed onto it with a crash, deafening his ears. Scrambling for a foothold, Sorey wrenched his sword out of its sheath and held it shakily out in front of him, his wide eyes fixed on the cloaked form kneeling motionless on the boulder surrounded by a cloud of disturbed dirt.

Slowly, its head moved up to face him. Two horribly familiar red eyes glared out at him from behind the nightmarish mask. A massive blood-red claw clutched the boulder beneath it, pulsating disgustingly in the moonlight.

"Y-you again!" Sorey gasped, his whole body tensing instinctively in the presence of the powerful hellion. He glanced around, cursing his foolishness for wandering so far away from the rest of the group. His gaze returned to the motionless hellion, watching him from its perch on the boulder.

The memories came back to Sorey in an instant. That horrific night. The pain and horror that had engulfed him. He stood no chance against it. He knew this. He thought back to Mikleo's words. Of how his friend had been convinced that no hellion could possibly be anything but monsters.

Yet…

With a curse, Sorey belatedly realized that the hellion was charging.

CLANG!

The blood red claw met his hastily raised sword. His sword stood no chance.

"GAH!"

With an involuntary cry, Sorey tumbled through the grass, having been cast bodily away into the distance. Grunting in agony, the Shepherd pushed his bruised and battered body back up and onto his feet, grasping his sword in his hand.

To his surprise, the hellion hadn't moved from where it had attacked him, instead simply watching him from a distance.

A soft nighttime breeze blew through the field, rustling the grass all around them. The crickets continued to chirp in the background, filling the tense air with song.

"Wh…" Sorey let out a hoarse cough and shook his head, starting over. "What do you want from me?!" He yelled out into the field.

The hellion's response was to raise its claw and charge once more. Cursing, Sorey raised his sword once more.

CLANG!

"AGH!"

And once more, Sorey was cast bodily into the distance by the hellion's raw strength, tumbling over himself in the grass. With a grunt, the Shepherd found his feet under him and got up once more, his sword at the ready. And once more, he found the hellion simply watching him, at the same place where they'd traded blows.

Ever so slowly, the blood-red claw rose once more, in a slow, obvious indicator of an impending charge.

"What…?" Sorey breathed, tensing his body in preparation for the attack.

And then the hellion charged, in the same manner as the past two attacks. This time, Sorey tried something different.

Instead of blocking against the hellion's incredible strength, the Shepherd lunged to the side, dodging the hellion's charge entirely and rolling in the grass. Sorey's hair stuck up on the back of his neck mid-dive as he felt the malevolence rolling off the hellion's swiping claw wash over him.

Grunting, Sorey recovered, stumbling to his feet and turning around, his sword at the ready against his adversary, now within a few meters of his position.

He blinked, finding the hellion just standing there, its claw held limply at its side. The two blood-red eyes seemed to burrow into his.

The two stood there; one gasping for breath, filled with confusion, the other stoic and silent in the darkness.

Frustrated, Sorey smartly flipped his sword around shoved it resolutely into its sheath. He crossed his arm and faced off belligerently against the hellion toying with him. "Enough of this!" He yelled, standing firm. "Tell me what you want!"

The two eyes narrowing was Sorey's only warning before it lunged.

His cries of agony and pain filled the night as the hellion let loose upon him, clawing him relentlessly every time he got to his feet.

But Sorey continued to get up every time he fell.

"You…" He let out a cough, spitting out blood, struggling to his feet and glaring at the hellion. "You won't kill me." He stated with upmost conviction.

"GAH!" He groaned as he was slammed down onto the ground, the massive pulsating claw pinning his entire body against the grassy ground.

Sorey stared up defiantly at the hellion holding him still, clearly calling its bluff. He ignored the utterly horrifying sensation of the pulsating serrated flesh against his skin and clothing and instead capitalized upon his frustration. "I… I won't do anything until you tell me what you want!" He spat. "So, tell me! It can't be that hard!"

The blood-red eyes were narrowed in apparent frustration.

And then just like that, the hellion released him and leapt off into the night, leaving him lying winded and bruised on the grass.

Grunting, Sorey got to his feet and shouted out into the night. "You just made my point!" He yelled.

With a huff, the Shepherd bent down and picked his fallen sword, carefully wiping the dirt of it as he did so. He didn't bother looking around for the hellion nearby. He knew now that he would see it again.

It was following him. And him in particular.

If only he knew why!

With a sigh, Sorey turned on his heel and began quietly walking back towards the group's distant campsite, absently slathering some gels on his bruises as he did so, frustration in his eyes.

----​

In the far distance, Velvet Crowe wrenched the mask off her face in frustration. She glared over her shoulder at the distant field where she'd traded blows with the Shepherd. The naïve idiot had a long way to go. A very long way to go until he would be strong enough to take on hellions like her.

To take on a hellion like the Lord of Calamity Himself.

With a sigh, forcing herself to calm down, Velvet stuffed the mask and her cloak into her travel pack once more. She would have to get back to the campsite before Sorey returned; to maintain her false persona.

With one last disdainful shake of her head, the daemon tensed her legs and leapt inhumanly high into the starry sky under the cover of darkness.

The field was returned once more to the silence, filled only by the soft chirping of crickets and the soft rustling of grass swaying in the night breeze.

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 3 – Threat.

Sturdily bound logs creaked loudly underneath the repetitive steps of travelers crossing the bridge. The wooden groaning meshed amicably with the chuckling of the shallow creek glistening in the midday heat. Rusted chains maintaining the structural integrity of the weathered trade bridge clinked and clanked; disturbed by both the soft breeze and the weight of the travelers.

Velvet travelled alone in front of the group, her steel boots digging harshly into the wood surface of the bridge. The Shepherd's group trailed behind her, keeping up with her pace yet still maintaining a conspicuous distance between themselves and the stranger ahead of them.

It had been like this ever since the battle yesterday.

The therion let out a sigh under her breath as she walked, idly listening in on the conversations happening behind her back with her enhanced hearing.

"…not a hellion." Sorey was muttering to Mikleo, his voice low and argumentative.

At his side, the water seraph responded under his breath, "And neither were those Scattered Bones assassins. Neither were those greaseballs in the council who tried to get you under their thumbs. I don't think it's right to say that any given human who's not a hellion is necessarily a good person."

The sound of clothing shifting filled the brief pause in his words. Velvet didn't need to turn around to know that the seraph was gesturing at her.

"You saw how she reacted to my question yesterday! How aloof and callous she was! I don't care if she expels malevolence or not, Sorey, there's no denying it. She's a murderer. Killing is of second nature to her!" He hissed.

"That… does seem to be the only reasonable explanation." Sorey's admission was reluctant.

"As much as I hate to admit it," Alisha added seriously, "I must agree with Mikleo on this." She let out a sigh. "Objectively speaking, at the end of the day, we must remember the dangers of the world we travel." Her armor clanked as she held a hand up to her chest. "…It may be that Velvet simply isn't the sort of person we want to have travelling with us."

"What about your master, Alisha?" Sorey asked curiously. "You said she fought in wars before, right? Wouldn't that make her a murder as well?"

"W-well…" Alisha began.

"Most would agree that there is a difference between a soldier and a criminal, Sorey." Lailah interjected softly. "But not everyone agrees with such sentiment. There is no single standard to uphold amongst humanity. You, and only you yourself, must decide what you believe is right and wrong. That, in of itself, is part of your duty."

"…My duty as the Shepherd, huh?" Sorey mumbled.

"Well, here's your first hurdle, I suppose." Mikleo mumbled. "Ultimately, it's up to you what you decide what to do with Velvet. You are the Shepherd, after all."

Sorey let out a grunt in response, clearly deep in thought.

Silence fell once more, leaving the group travelling in silence. At the front of the group, Velvet kept on walking at a steady pace, regardless of her companions behind her. A light breeze blew across the fields surrounding them, rustling the sparse foliage and trees dotting the region. High above, the midday sun continued to shine, heedless of what occurred in the land below.

Suddenly, Alisha cried out, "Enemies! Behind us!"

Immediately, the group whipped around, weapons flying out of sheaths as they faced hellions charging up the path from behind.

"Damn!" Mikleo cursed, raising his club. "An ambush!"

"We must adapt to the situation!" Lailah urged, drawing her casting cards artfully through the air. "Fighters, to the front!" She called.

"On it!" Sorey and Alisha both yelled, running forward with weapons drawn against their adversaries; a pack of three skunk accompanied by a single hawk hellion.

Abruptly remembering something, Sorey glanced over his shoulder, finding the fifth member of the group running in to help. "Velvet!" He called, sprinting forward with his sword high in the air. "Stay back!"

Velvet's eyes narrowed at the command, her boots skidding in the dirt as she came to a sudden halt outside of the area of battle. Her lips twisted into a scowl.

"Take this!" Sorey demanded, slashing his sword down upon a skunk hellion and driving it away from the seraphim casters.

"Hah!" Alisha yelled, dashing forward and performing a short, defensive stab against a charging sunk.

Mikleo's arte completed with a flash and hum of mana. "Watch out, guys! Above!" His hand shot up into the air, palm facing towards the diving hawk hellion.

With a blinding flash, a burst of high-pressure water materialized from his palm and shot up into the sky, slamming right onto the center mass of the hawk and knocking it clean out of the sky to fall into an uncontrolled tumble onto the ground. With a yell, Sorey leapt back away from the skunk hellion and slashed the fallen hawk with a blazing blue sword, purifying it.

At the same time, Lailah's arte completed. "Sorey! Alisha! Here goes!" She cried.

"Go for it!" "We're clear!"

With a yell, her long hair billowing behind her, Lailah let her casting cards loose upon the world.

BANG!

A formidable explosion of flame and magma erupted from the ground directly in the middle of the group of three skunk hellions, sending their burnt and bruised bodies tumbling back every which way. A burnt, acidic smell hung in the air as the arte dissipated. Sorey and Alisha regrouped by the seraphim, their weapons held defensively at the ready.

And from out of the smoke charged a single enraged skunk hellion, foaming from the mouth. Various burn wounds patterned its malevolence-soaked hide, glistening in an angry red hue.

"It's gone berserk!" Mikleo warned urgently. "It won't stop until it's physically unable to attack. Careful!"

"Lailah!" Sorey shouted over his shoulder. The fire seraph nodded sharply in response.

"Fethmus Mioma!"

A brilliant flash of red-hued light shot outwards from Sorey's body, imitating the sun high above as the Shepherd armatized with the Prime Lord. From out of the bright furnace charged an angel, wreathed in white and red.

"Let's do it Lailah!" Sorey yelled, hefting the massive great sword in his hands.

"This one's weak against fire! Don't hold back!" Came the armatized seraph's response.

"You got it!" Sorey agreed, charging once more towards the enraged hellion.

Sorey and Lailah let out a joint yell as they swung the great sword towards the charging hellion. A brilliant trail of blazing hot fire billowed out in the wake of the sword's swing. In response, the enraged skunk hellion leapt up and forwards, boldly meeting the blade's edge with its fangs and claws.

BANG!

A detonation exploded between the Shepherd and his adversary, sending both sliding backwards in the dirt away from each other, deflected by each other's attacks.

"Is it down?!" Mikleo asked urgently, taking a step forward alongside Sorey's armatized form.

"I don't know!" Sorey responded, his glowing yellow eyes raking through the smoky and hazy air, searching for the form of the hellion. "Stay alert." He warned. "It could come from anywhere."

The group glanced around the trail and the surrounding trees, watching for the infernal beast to show itself and subject itself to its judgement. The smell of burnt flesh hung in the air, irritating their noses. Silence fell upon the tense group, deceivingly tranquil in its essence.

SHING!

Sorey froze at the sound of a gauntlet blade erupting from its sheath behind him. He whirled around, bringing his sword around to bear. At his side, Mikleo and Alisha had similar horrified reactions, whipping their bodies around to face the source of the sound.

Behind them, Velvet's blade fell in slow motion, poised to rend the berserk hellion charging them in half. Sorey brought up a hand helplessly to stop the murder about to happen before his eyes.

"NO!" He yelled.

The flat side of Velvet's sword slammed against the side of the skunk, sending it stumbling off to the side, off-balanced.

Without pause, the traveler stomped her left boot down into the ground beneath her and used it as leverage to pivot around, swinging her entire body in a single, powerful revolution. As she completed her spin, her other boot crashed into the flank of the stunned hellion with a loud crunch, sending it tumbling off to the side of the road. Its squeals of agony filled the air as it writhed around in the dirt, finally feeling the pain of its combined wounds.

Velvet's sword sank back into its sheath with a loud click in the aftermath of the battle. She let out a frustrated sigh.

"I'm done with this." She snarled, turning to face the group fully with fire in her eyes.

She ignored the guarded tensing of their bodies and the tightening of grips on weapons as she advanced towards them with impatient steps. "If you all have a problem, then tell it to me right here, right now." She demanded hotly, stopping short in front of them with crossed arms and an index finger repeatedly tapping her left bicep. "If you don't then it's a waste of your time and a waste of mine."

Her narrowed eyes jumped between the eyes of each group member; between Mikleo, Alisha, and Sorey's armatized eyes.

"I kill." She admitted, waving a careless hand in the air. "That much is obvious." Her eyes burrowed into Sorey's. "My question is, why the hell do you all care so much about that?" She demanded.

"W-why?!" Mikleo was aghast at the very question. "Why the hell would we not?!" He yelled back. "People shouldn't kill! It's just not right!" He shot back.

"Oh, grow up." She scoffed back.

"W-what did you say?!" Mikleo challenged lividly.

Velvet's hard eyes turned to Sorey. "Just what exactly did you expect of a person living in such a world with resonance?" She asked in disbelief. "In a world where hellions are attracted to those who can see them? In a world where monsters that nobody else can see will happily kill and consume the resonant in the blink of an eye?"

The low whimpering of the fallen hellion at her side filled the pause as she caught her breath. The group exchanged wide-eyed looks in response to the woman's words.

"…I do what I need to do." Velvet growled lowly.

"And if I have to kill to do what I need to do, then so be it. If you thought a surviving resonant human would be any other way, you'd be plain delusional." She swiped a hand through the air decisively.

"And if you can't see it that way, tell me, so that I can leave now. There's all that's to it." She demanded.

Silence fell following her ultimatum. She studied the faces of the group. Mikleo looked both furious and disturbed by her words. Alisha had a deeply contemplative expression as she stared at her. And Sorey…

The armatized Shepherd shook his head slowly.

"…I don't agree." Sorey mumbled softly. "I don't accept that. I believe that there should never be a reason to kill, ever, no matter what. No matter the circumstances."

Velvet turned on her heel immediately, starting to walk away. "Alright." She muttered. "That's your choice."

"But…"

Velvet's steps slowed. She glanced over her shoulder. "…But?" She prompted with a raised eyebrow.

Sorey's eyes were filled with mixed emotions as he met her eyes. "But… I'm willing to accept the presence of people who think differently to me." He stated softly.

With a flash of bright light, Sorey dispelled the armatization, returning his eyes to his normal hue and reinstating him of his Shepherd garb. With slow, determined steps, he made his way up to Velvet.

He let out a small smile. "…After all, there is no single standard to uphold amongst humanity. All we can do is do what each of us feel is right, in our own hearts." He finished softly, genuinely, while holding out a hand in front of him.

Velvet stared.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the therion turned around fully, keenly examining Sorey's eyes and searching for any hint of duplicity. She found none.

After a pause, her human right hand lifted to meet his hand in a mutual handshake.

Velvet let out a soft huff under her breath as they shook hands. "…Color me impressed." She muttered quietly. "I thought you were just a naïve idiot who wouldn't accept anybody different to him."

Mikleo let out a scoff as he trotted up to them. "Then you haven't been paying enough attention." He pointed out, giving Velvet a hard look. "In case you've forgotten, I'm a seraph who's lived with him his entire life."

"Ahaha." Sorey scratched the back of his neck shyly. "Right, yeah. There's that, I suppose."

"Yes." Alisha agreed, stepping up as well. "Sorey does have the tendency to surprise with his inclusiveness. I know I myself was astonished that such a person could honestly be so kind and open when I first met him."

She shook her head and gave Velvet a slow bow. "In any case, I believe I owe you an apology, Velvet." She met her eyes. "I admit that I had not fully considered the possible rationale behind your actions and the history that had led you to become what you are today. I apologize for judging without asking for your side of the story."

Velvet stared. "…It's fine." She muttered after a pause, waving a hand in the air. "I understand the sentiment, if anything."

"Still," Mikleo interjected firmly, "you know what you have to do to stay with us, right?" He prompted.

Sorey nodded. "Right." He met Velvet's gaze firmly. "That is, if you travel with us, you can't kill." His words were final. "That is the only requirement I have for you."

Velvet remarked dryly, "And here I was hoping you'd let me kill at one hellion a day." At their collectively aghast looks, she rolled her eyes. "I'm kidding." She drawled, waving a hand in the air. "I wasn't planning on it anyways, now that I know how much you care about the hellions you fight."

"…Right." Sorey grinned sheepishly. "I suppose it does sound a little weird, wanting to save the lives of attacking monsters trying to kill you."

"Such is the lot of the Shepherd." Mikleo shrugged helplessly. "And Sorey's hell-bent on doing just that, regardless of how dangerous it is." He glared at the man in question. "Because he's a stupid idiot."

"Hey!" Sorey grumbled good-naturedly.

"If that's the case," Velvet rested her bandaged arm on her hip, "We'd better get going… after we purify these hellions."

Alisha blinked. "Oh! That's right! Sorey!" She prompted.

"A-ah! I forgot!" The Shepherd yelped, whirling around and glancing around for the scattered unconscious bodies of the beaten hellions that had yet to be purified. "I'm sorry!" He apologized as he jogged over to them, pulling out his sword and channeling the blue flames from within his body. Mikleo and Alisha followed quick on his heels to help provide first aid to the purified hellions.

Velvet rolled her eyes. "…He's a strange one, that's for sure." She mumbled to herself.

Suddenly, she blinked, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. She turned to her right and found Lailah staring directly at her, an uncharacteristically solemn expression on her face. The fire seraph had been silent the entire exchange, standing away from the others and watching the exchange with a terse expression.

Velvet looked away, her eyes narrowing.

She'd been found out.

----​

A night breeze blew through the sparse forest, rustling the leaves above in a symphony of chatting twigs and murmuring leaves. A branch cracked loudly as it was crushed under Velvet's steel boots; the therion was making her way through the forest with a single-minded drive, her eyes easily making out her surroundings despite the lack of a moon in the sky. Quietly, the raven-haired woman trotted uphill, pushing her way through the foliage hiding underneath the trees with steady, measured steps.

Eventually, she managed to climb her way up to the top of a tall hill overlooking the rest of the forest. A chilly breeze blew once more, causing her hair and black coat to billow behind her like a cape. In the distance, her enhanced eyesight could discern the group's campsite in the forest down below. They would be far enough away for what was about to happen and not realize anything was amiss.

Good.

And then, she stood there, waiting with her arms hanging at her side and with her eyes idly scanning the moonless night sky.

It wasn't long before Lailah arrived behind her, her steps soft and cautious.

"…All that talk of trying to find your 'cousin.'" The fire seraph's voice was deceptively soft. "Was it… all just a lie?"

Velvet shook her head softly. "…Not all of it." She muttered into the cold night air, her eyes distant.

Her steel boots crunching on gravel echoed deafeningly loud in the quiet as she turned around to face the seraph, a cold, impassive expression carved on her face. Her amber eyes seemed to glow in the surrounding darkness.

"It's just not why I'm here." She stated, coldly meeting Lailah's gaze.

SQUELCH!

Lailah's eyes widened in horror as an untold amount of malevolence erupted from the hellion before her, bursting out in waves of pure miasma. A vortex of unnatural wind blew out from the woman's form, violently disturbing the surrounding forest for miles around. An unnatural thrum ran through the ground under the seraph's feet, causing her to stumble in shock and disbelief.

"A domain?!" Lailah gasped, recovering her footing and snapping her head up in disbelief towards the source of all the dense malevolence.

The former Lord of Calamity stood calmly before the seraph, her true self bared to the world. Her figure was framed by the moonless night sky while her hair and coat billowed behind her in the gusts of her own domain. At her side, held with the familiarity of something inherently part of herself, hung a sickeningly familiar pulsating claw.

Lailah held a hand up to her mouth in horror. "It was you!" She gasped. "That night in the meadow!" Shaking her head, the seraph took an impassioned step forward. "Why?! Why did you attack us?"

Velvet idly examined the back of her claw. The three wounds that had been inflicted by Mikleo were healing well, she was pleased to see. She glanced over at Lailah and shrugged lightly. "I had to make sure this one wasn't a tyrant." She explained.

"You mean… Sorey?!" Lailah's eyes were wide as she registered the meaning behind her words.

Velvet let her daemon claw lower to her side as she faced the seraph fully. She waved her human hand idly over her shoulder. "I had to ensure that the tool I was planning on using would be easy to wield, didn't I?"

"T-tool…!" Lailah seemed lost for words. "Just what are you planning, Velvet Crowe?!" She demanded over the roaring winds.

Velvet raised an intrigued eyebrow.

"…Out of curiosity, what gave me away?" She asked lightly. "Took you quite a while to connect the dots."

Lailah shook her head heatedly. "I..." Her aghast eyes seemed fixated on Velvet's claw. "Your words today… they reminded me of something... He told me once…" She mumbled under her breath.

Velvet looked away, off into the tainted air. "…I'm assuming you mean Maotelus." She muttered. The name tasted wrong on her tongue.

"…" Lailah's silence didn't surprise the therion.

She let out a huff. "…Right, your oath." Velvet sighed, waving a hand in the air. "I'm still piecing together the pieces, but from what it looks like, things have really gone sidewaysaround here since I've been gone." She let out a huff of disbelief.

"Been… gone?" Lailah mumbled.

Velvet shook her head, declining to elaborate.

Instead, she addressed the seraph's earlier words. "As to what I'm planning…" She shifted on her feet, easily resting her human hand on her right hip.

"…I'm here to save Maotelus." Velvet stated simply.

The howling of the untamed winds and the thrumming of the disturbed earth filled the shocked silence after Velvet's declaration.

Ignoring Lailah's wide-eyed expression, Velvet let out a huff, idly extending her gauntlet blade and examining her reflection in the polished steel. "…Strange, huh? A Lord of Calamity trying to save the life of one of the Five Lords?" She muttered, a peculiar pensiveness flitting through her expression.

"I… I don't understand." Lailah shook her head helplessly. "Why would you want to save Him?"

The woman let out a light sigh. "Why indeed?" She muttered.

With a click, Velvet's gauntlet blade collapsed back into its sheath as she let her arm fall back against her side. She abruptly turned to face Lailah fully with narrowed eyes. All of a sudden, that horrifying claw seemed even more intimidating.

"That's not what you need to worry about, Lailah." Velvet mumbled, taking a measured step forwards through the gravel towards the seraph. All around her, the domain shifted, following the source of the malevolence with her every move. Her expression didn't change as she held the nervous seraph's gaze as she approached.

She stopped directly in front of the seraph, her daemon claw slowly raising up to fill the space between them. "What you need to worry about…"

With a violent crash, the massive fingers clenched in an explosion of malevolence. Lailah instinctively flinched away from the unnatural corruption.

Velvet's expression as grim. "Is what will happen to Soreyif you say a word to him about me."

Visibly forcing herself not to recoil from the hellion in front of her, Lailah gathered herself and met the monster's eyes forcibly, her spine stiffening. "…I will do whatever I want when it comes to the Shepherd's wellbeing." She declared firmly, heedless of the danger staring her back in the face.

"Then we should have nothing to worry about." Velvet gave a humorless smile, letting her daemon claw fall back against her side and waving her other hand in the air. "After all," she reasoned, "the only way I can save Maotelus is by making sure the Shepherd becomes strong enough to do so for me."

Her eyes narrowed. "But don't worry. If the Shepherd turns out to be a waste of time for me, well." She shrugged callously. "I'm a daemon. I can just devour him and wait for the next one to appear in the next few centuries and try again. It's no problem for me." She assured.

"You…" Lailah shook her head shakily.

"…You're just like He said you were like." She muttered.

Raising an eyebrow, Velvet shifted on her feet. "I'm sure He was right." She agreed, a strange expression on her face. Her eyes shifted to Lailah's. "…Then you know how much I'm willing to go when it comes to getting what I want." She prompted.

"…I do." Lailah's jaw was set.

"We're on the same page, then." Velvet seemed satisfied. Her eyes narrowed. "In that case, I have a question for you."

"…What?"

The therion's expression had gone dead serious. "Is the Armatus safe?" She asked lowly.

Lailah blinked. "The… Armatus? It's been safe for almost a millennium now. Why…?" She mumbled in confusion.

"Good." Velvet nodded sharply. With precise movements, the therion pivoted on her left foot and began to walk past Lailah.

"…And one more thing." She added, halting in her tracks behind the seraph. "Sorey may disappear from time to time during the night. You're to keep the group from finding out about these times, understood?" She ordered into the air.

"Disappearing?" Lailah turned around to face the therion in surprise. "What will you be doing to him?!" She implored.

Velvet gave her a look. "My tools need to be honed if I'm ever to use them." She said in means of explanation. "And right now, Sorey's pretty damn miserable of a tool. Just keep the others from finding out, would you?" She smirked. "You'll do fine. You're pretty good at keeping secrets from them already, aren't you?"

Lailah didn't have anything to say to that.

"I've already tried to train him once a few nights ago, but he's proving annoyingly resistant to putting up any sort of fight." Velvet grumbled as an aside. She raised an eyebrow at Lailah. "I take it he hasn't mentioned anything to any of you about the incident?"

"N-no." Lailah admitted, horrified to be hearing all of this for the first time. "He hasn't said anything out of the ordinary."

Velvet let out a huff, shaking his head. "He really is a moron." She muttered under his breath. "He's way too sure of himself sometimes."

As the therion began to walk off down the hill, Lailah remembered herself. "Wait!" She called. "Just how are you doing this?!"

Velvet stopped and turned back to her inquisitively. "Doing what?"

Lailah's arm shot outwards to gesture around them. "Your domain! Just how have you been hiding it to the point where none of the seraphim can feel it?!" She yelled over the howling winds.

In response, Velvet simply closed her eyes and concentrated.

To the fire seraph's astonishment, the domain began to dissipate as quickly as it had appeared. The winds began to die down, while the floating particles of malevolence began to naturally break down in the air.

"I… Impossible…!" Lailah breathed.

Opening her eyes, the now undetectable hellion put a hand on her hip. "Not really." She waved a hand in the air. "I was pretty much forced to develop the technique over the years…"

"…Considering how my domain increases the resonance of nearby humans."

Lailah's eyes were wide.

"Call it a figment of a forgotten god." Velvet elaborated vaguely. "A god that once upon a time caused the whole world to see seraphim and hellions alike." Her eyes were distant.

"And now…" She clenched her right fist. "…I'm the only remaining proof of his existence." She mumbled.

"…But that's beside the point." She shrugged, waving her still-pulsating daemon claw. "The point is that I can suppress my domain to the point where it's undetectable, but at a price." She met Lailah's eyes. "It's one of the reasons why I'll be disappearing to teach Sorey as well. To expel built-up malevolence in the process."

Lailah's mind was a whirl with the implications of such an ability. "You mean to say… the malevolence… collects inside of you as you suppress it?" She asked, aghast.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Velvet shrugged.

"But then what if you hit your body's limit?! Surely even you have one?" Lailah breathed. "Then, if that were to happen, all of the malevolence-!"

"-Would overflow and would most likely turn any nearby seraphim into dragons in moments." Velvet's words were callous, her expression unchanged. "I'd imagine that doesn't sound very appealing to you."

Horror was in Lailah's eyes. "Y-you know this, yet you still…?" She stammered.

Velvet's jaw was set.

"Like I said." With a precise spin on her heel, the therion turned around and resumed her downhill walk back towards camp. "I'll do anything to get what I want."

"That's just the sort of hellion I am."

Just like that, the therion left, leaving Lailah alone on the lonely hilltop, surrounded by moonless sky, windless air, and silence.

Shakily, the fire seraph fisted her left hand and brought it up to her chest, willing her racing heart to stop beating. "…Velvet Crowe." Lailah breathed under her breath.

Her expression fell into sorrow. "…Oh, Sorey." She mumbled hopelessly. "Just what have I gotten you into…?"

All around her, the silence continued.

----​

"Ahahaha!" Sorey's face was nearly red from laughter at the sight.

"Sh-shut the hell up!" Mikleo sputtered back, clumsily fumbling around and trying not to get himself even more wet.

He abruptly blinked, having found a bandaged hand offering him aid out of the creek.

Velvet raised an eyebrow, humor evident in her eyes. "Is this some sort of training for water seraphim or something?" She asked dryly, gesturing with her proffered hand at Mikleo's form.

By her side, Alisha muffled her giggle with both hands.

The water seraph had accidentally tripped and fallen into a creek by the side of the trading road to the amusement of the entire group, travelling for yet another day down the countryside towards Marlind.

The sun was high in the sky and a soft breeze was blowing, rustling the sparse trees dotting the land alongside the babbling creek. Insects buzzed and chirped from their nooks and crannies hidden among the waterside plants. In the distance, a flock of ducks swam idly in the waters, fishing in the clear waters. High in the sky, pure white fluffy clouds drifted alongside the bright sun, occasionally blocking the sunlight for brief periods of times.

It was just another peaceful day of travelling.

Face completely red in humiliation, Mikleo haughtily turned his nose up and accepted Velvet's hand with as much dignity as he could muster, pulling himself out of the creek, soaking wet from head to toe.

"Th-thanks." He muttered under his breath.

Sorey trotted up to the two of them with a wide grin on his face. "I didn't know you could make such high-pitched noises, Mikleo." He remarked wryly, stopping before them with his hands on his hips. "I guess you learn something new every day." He supposed thoughtfully.

Mikleo's glare was murderous. "…Oh, I can teach you something else right now." His hand twitched.

Velvet gave Sorey an idle glance. "I'd start running, if I were you." She advised lightly.

Sorey blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

He abruptly registered the casting staff in Mikleo's hands.

The man's eyes instantly widened, his open hands coming up defensively. "O-oh! W-wait! Mikleo!" He backpedaled hastily. "Hold on a sec! We can talk this through!"

"Oh yeah?" Mikleo growled vengefully, advancing upon the hapless Shepherd. "I don't think so." With an ominous hum, the seraph began charging a low-power arte at the tip of his staff.

Sorey balked.

"G-GYAAAAH!" He screamed, breaking into a full retreat.

"STAND STILL!" Mikleo demanded, charging after his friend.

Alisha and Velvet exchanged fond eye-rolls as the two idiots began their chase down the road, both running at full tilt.

"…I guess we'd better chase after them." Velvet shook her head wryly.

"Hah, I suppose so." Alisha let out a huff of amusement, resuming to walk in the direction the two men had ran off in. "It never ceases to amaze how brotherly those two are." She remarked.

Velvet shrugged as she walked. "Those two never cease to amaze, period." She let out a breath, waving a hand in the air. "I'll never understand how Sorey came to be a Shepherd."

Alisha hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps…" she supposed, "It's because of how unique Sorey is that he was able to become the one to take on the mantle of the world's savior."

"The world's savior… huh?" Velvet breathed.

"…Well." Velvet gave Alisha a shrug. "Good luck to him, I suppose."

The princess nodded firmly, looking forward. "I myself have upmost faith in Sorey." She affirmed. "I know from the bottom of my heart that he is exactly what this world needs right now. Someone different."

"…Right." Velvet muttered.

Right on cue, Sorey and Mikleo turned the corner of the trail up ahead, both utterly soaking wet from head to toe, wide grins on their faces as they tried their best to squeeze the water out of their clothing.

Sorey raised a hand. "Come on guys!" He yelled excitedly. "We found a lake up a head! It looks like a perfect spot for lunch!"

"…Well, 'different' is one way to put it, I suppose." Velvet smirked.

Alisha laughed, covering her mouth.

"Hey, what's so funny?!"

"Nothing of note!" Alisha called back easily, grinning.

Mikleo and Sorey exchanged looks. "Girls." Mikleo sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Haha, yeah." Sorey responded easily.

Velvet and Alisha eventually made their way up to Sorey and Mikleo, whom were still trying their best to dry their soaking wet hair in the hot summer sun.

Sorey blinked. "Say, where's Lailah?"

Velvet gestured over her shoulder with her head down the path. "She's back there." She pointed out, referring to the fire seraph trailing far behind the group in the path.

Alisha nodded deeply, her brow furrowing. "Now that you mention it… Lailah has been awful quiet lately. I hope she's alright."

"Really?" Sorey asked worriedly.

Velvet shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe she didn't get enough sleep last night." She suggested.

"…You're probably right." Sorey nodded seriously. "If that's the case, then we have to go make sure she has good food to eat for lunch then!" He turned to Mikleo. "Come on! Let's go make some snacks for her!"

"I'll try to be as much of a help as I can." Alisha promised.

"That would be great if you could." Mikleo nodded appreciatively. "Let's go."

As the three of them walked off, Velvet trailed behind, her steps slow and meandering as she let distance grow between her and the others. All around her, the buzzing of insects and the chirping of birds continued, meshing with the babbling of the creek and the rustling of leaves. The bright summer day continued all around the disguised hellion, as if there was nothing wrong in the world.

Velvet turned her head over her shoulder and made eye contact with Lailah. She clenched her bandaged hand violently.

Visibly shaken, Lailah nodded her head deeply, reaffirming her intentions to the hellion. She would not tell the group anything. She would not tell them of the fake in their group.

For the only way to ascertain Sorey's relative safety was to give in to the monster's demands.

Grimly satisfied, Velvet resumed her steps and moved to catch up with the group, intending to help Mikleo with lunch before the idiot seraph burnt the damn thing again. She knew she had nothing to fear from Lailah. The fire seraph already had so many secrets that a few more would not bother her. A small, satisfied smirk grew on her face as she walked on, feeling Lailah's eyes on her back.

Things were going to plan.

End of Part 1 – Means to an End.

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 4 – Old Faces.

Water rushed furiously down the length of the river, splashing alongside the thoroughly battered riverbank and sending spray flying high in the air, clashing with the torrential rainfall showering the surrounding grasslands. The land for miles around vibrated with the fearsome force of the raging river, resembling the growl of a monstrous beast yet unsated by the destruction it had wrought. Fierce gales howled through the soaked, humid air, mixing with the ear-pounding roar of the waters. The world was one of nature's fury.

Velvet's hair fluttered all around her as she stood firmly at the end of the ruined Griflet Bridge with her arms crossed, her eyes narrowed against the storm. Her steel boots were rooted firmly on the drenched stones near the edge of the crumbling bridge, her position providing her a vantage point to observe her surroundings.

Dozens of waterlogged tents had been pitched at a relatively safe distance away from the Griflet River, their thin summer canvases completely ill-suited for the gallons of rainfall pelting down incessantly upon their pitiable frames. Lanterns and torches with a modicum of shelter from the falling waters could barely be discerned at a distance, winking pathetically in the foggy air against the wind. Various trade goods had been abandoned in scattered heaps underneath thoroughly soaked tarps dotted around the camp, their owners having long since given up hope of them ever making it to their final destination.

Figures of drenched travelers could be seen running through the muck and grime from tent to tent like ants in a drowning colony. Likewise, pairs of patrolling Hyland soldiers could be seen trudging miserably through the rain, roughly using the butts of their spears as walking sticks. An air of depression and suffering hung over the entire makeshift settlement; a settlement founded solely from the destruction of a bridge and the anguish that had followed.

Velvet shook her head to herself, absently brushing a few drenched tendrils of hair out of her eyes. Not a single one of those humans belonged out here. None of them had a place in this harsh land.

"…It's just no good."

Velvet's attention was drawn by Mikleo's distant words. She turned to the side and found the water seraph, Sorey, and Lailah walking up to the bridge, deep in conversation.

Mikleo shook his head, a hand on his chin. "You'd think ever since we got rid of the hellion that had destroyed the bridge in the first place a few weeks ago, repairs would've finished by now, but…" He trailed off.

Lailah nodded deeply in agreement. "Regardless of the Oroboros' absence," she observed, "bad weather in the surrounding region seems to have hampered the repair efforts of the Griflet Bridge significantly." She glanced over her shoulder at the sodden encampment behind them. "…It doesn't look like the construction will finish anytime soon."

Sorey's frown deepened. "I guess problems like these don't just solve themselves overnight…" He muttered. He blinked, abruptly registering Velvet standing on the ruins of the bridge. "Velvet!" He called through the rain.

The woman in question put a hand on her hip and shifted on her feet as Sorey jogged over, Mikleo and Lailah following close behind.

"I take it the news isn't good." She prompted as they neared.

Coming to a halt at the foot of the bridge, Sorey shook his head grimly. "I'm afraid not."

Mikleo climbed up the bridge and keenly examined the partially constructed wooden frame extruding outwards from the ruined cobblestone. Clearly, he wasn't impressed by the repair effort that had been made. He glanced at Velvet. "It looks like we might all be stuck here for the time being." He explained seriously.

Velvet gave a slow acknowledging nod in return. She turned to Sorey. "What now?"

"Well…" Sorey scratched the back of his head. "I'm not entirely sure." he admitted. He gestured over his shoulder. "Alisha went to go talk with the local garrisoned soldiers about the situation. We should be able to figure out more after she gets back."

Mikleo stepped down the bridge with crossed arms. "If it's only three people, it's possible that I could use my artes to transport us across the river." He proposed. "That would probably be the absolute limit of my powers, though."

"Is that so…" Sorey let out a sigh. "I do want to help the people of Marlind as quickly as possible…" He promised. "…But that doesn't mean I can just ignore the suffering of the people stranded here either." His worried eyes were drawn to sprawling camp of the displaced travelers, his jaw set.

Lailah's eyes held onto Velvet's for a split second before moving to meet Sorey's.

"…It's impossible to lend a helping hand to everyone you meet along the way, Sorey." She shook her head. "All you must do is do what you can, with the strengths that you know you have."

Sorey let out a breath. "…You're right, Lailah." He laid a hand on the pommel of his sword as he thought. "But… that doesn't make the decision any harder than it already is." He muttered as an afterthought.

The howling of the winds filled the pensive silence as the group stayed there in the rain, mulling over the dilemma at hand. Behind them, the raging currents continued to flow underneath the ruins of the bridge with a dull roar.

"Pardon me, young man?"

The group blinked, turning to find an elderly old man approaching them, using a weathered walking stick to push off mud and help aid his way uphill towards the group through the rain. The man's breathing was heavy and labored, yet his steps continued determinedly on, his eyes fixed on Sorey's.

"Oh, sir!" Sorey instantly made his way down the hill towards the man, raising his hands in a placating manner. "Are you sure you should be out here in the rain like this?" He implored worriedly.

The bald man shook his head genially. "Thank you for the concern, but I just had to come and ask." He caught his breath, staring keenly at Sorey. "That outfit of yours… could you possibly be… the Shepherd?" He inquired.

Sorey blinked. "Oh! Yeah, I am." He confirmed with a nod. "I'm Sorey!" He introduced with a grin, offering the old man his open right hand.

The man seemed caught off-guard for a second, staring at the offered hand before snapping out his surprise. Pinning his walking cane under his arm, the man used his now two free hands to grasp onto Sorey's offered hand and shook it reverently. "I am honored, Lord Sorey." He promised, bowing his head with the motion. "My name is Neif, a representative of Marlind. My humblest of thanks for quelling the rampaging water spirit."

The Shepherd scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "You don't have to thank me for that, sir." He grinned reassuringly. "Honest." His grin faded slightly as his eyes were drawn to the collection of tents behind Neif. "…Besides, it doesn't look like it did much good in the end."

Neif turned and followed the Shepherd's gaze, a grim expression on his face. "Not yet, no." He agreed soberly.

"Nevertheless," he turned back and faced the cloaked man and gave a respectful nod, "had you not quelled the spirit, we Marlind folk would've had no hope whatsoever for ever returning back home. Yet now," he gestured to the river behind Sorey, "thanks to your efforts, we have a way forward. All that is left is for us normal folk to make do with the gifts you have so graciously provided us." He intoned wisely.

Sorey seemed lost for words at the man's tangible gratitude. "Have I really done that much…?" He mumbled.

Velvet's steel boots sunk softly into the mud as she walked up alongside Sorey. "Do all those in the camp agree with your sentiment, Neif?" She asked curiously.

The old man blinked in surprise, taking in the hardened woman standing beside the Shepherd.

In answer to his unspoken question, Sorey spoke up, gesturing to the woman. "Neif, this is Velvet Davidson." He introduced. "She's been travelling with us."

"Ah." Neif nodded deeply, giving Velvet a bow. "A companion to the Shepherd deserves no less respect that the Shepherd himself." He promised. "I am honored to have met you, miss."

Velvet blinked, taken aback by the man's sudden respect.

"And in answer to your question," Neif continued, straightening his back and gesturing over his shoulder at the camp, "no, not everyone shares my sentiment." His eyes were sober. "Many of the Marlinders who travelled with me don't see much farther than the unused medicine in our tents and the sickness of their families back home."

He shook his head slowly. "That is also partly why I came out here in the rain to meet you, Lord Sorey." He admitted. "I came to warn you to not reveal your identity to those in the camp."

Sorey's brow furrowed. "But… why not?" He asked.

Velvet put a thoughtful finger on her chin, recognizing the man's point. "Because if they knew who you were," she conjectured, "they'd probably beg you to help them."

"Exactly." Neif agreed softly.

"Are you saying I shouldn't?" Sorey asked in confusion.

"Can you, truly?" Neif asked genuinely. "Are your powers as Shepherd so great that you could truly be the answer to their prayers?"

Sorey opened his mouth to answer.

"Sorey."

Subtly, Sorey turned his head to find Lailah standing alongside Velvet, her head shaking in a clear message.

"Lailah!" Mikleo hissed, walking up urgently alongside Sorey. "With the help of my artes, Sorey, Alisha, and Velvet can make it across with a reasonable amount of medicine. Why shouldn't we help them out?" He implored.

To his surprise, he found Velvet giving him a sharp, reprimanding look from beside the fire seraph. "Quiet." She hissed out of the corner of her mouth.

"…I thought so." Neif had taken Sorey's silence as an answer.

The old man shook his head slowly. "Youngsters like them are hot-headed, and thus, when faced with great adversary, they are quick to seize onto the quickest and easiest solution, even at the expense of others." He let out a sigh, looking out towards the distant opposite bank of the river with a longing expression.

"…As much as I want to return home just as much as they do and help treat my sick wife and grandchildren," he admitted softly, "It is just as important that the others remember what it means to accomplish life's trials with their own two hands, rather than wait for someone else to come around and do it for them."

He met the Shepherd's eyes resolutely. "That… is what I believe is best for the future of Marlind." He affirmed.

The pattering of rain on mud and the constant thrum of the river filled the silence following Neif's declaration. Howling winds whipped around the group of travelers, rustling their clothing and chilling them to the bone.

Mikleo's brows were furrowed in thought. "What he believes is best…?" He breathed uncomprehendingly. "How couldgetting medicine back to his town not be his number one priority…?"

At the water seraph's side, Sorey shifted on his feet. "I… I don't entirely understand." He admitted softly. "But I promise you, I will do everything in my power to help where I can."

Neif nodded gratefully. "And I thank you for that, dear Shepherd. Regardless of how I wish my fellow townsfolk would remember their own power, I too wish to save my sick family as quickly as possible." He gestured over his shoulder. "Yet, regardless, I still urge you not to let those in camp know of your identity. For I fear that if they did, they would no longer believe in the strength of their own hands to solve their problems."

Understanding, Sorey nodded slowly. "…Okay." He agreed. "Then I'll do as you ask."

"Thank you." Neif nodded, gentle smile crinkling his face. "…Do not trouble yourself with the thoughts of an old man regarding his town." He urged softly. His walking stick squelched in the mud as he readjusted his grip on it. "After all, these are things that one truly learns only through the passage of time." He promised, straightening his back.

"Farewell, gentle Shepherd." He nodded. "I humbly urge you to always remember the hope you bring to us all." With one last bow, Neif turned away from the group and began to walk back to camp through the rain; back towards his fellow townsfolk.

Together, the group watched the old man recede into the distance through the howling winds.

"…Do you understand now, Sorey?" Lailah asked softly, facing the young man in the wake of Neif's departure.

Slowly, Sorey nodded. "…Yeah." He muttered. "I think I do."

At his side, Mikleo's brow furrowed deeper as he considered the old man's wise words, a finger held to his lips.

"So." Velvet stepped out in front of Sorey, her arms crossed. "What will you do then, Shepherd?" She prompted.

After a moment of contemplation, Sorey turned to the fire seraph. "Lailah." He prompted. "Would you happen know of any earth seraphim nearby who might be willing to help us?"

"What's your plan?" Mikleo asked, crossing his arms.

Sorey met Lailah's eyes determinedly. "I was thinking, if I can find an earth seraph, I might be able to persuade him or her to construct a foundation for the bridge across the river!" He proposed impassionedly. "That way, I'll be able to help speed things along, but no so much that the people become reliant!"

Her mind going over the Shepherd's process, Velvet was surprised to find little to no flaws in such a plan. "…A solution to both problems." She nodded, impressed. "Not a bad idea." She remarked.

"Indeed." Lailah agreed, turning to Sorey. "In that case, you'll be pleased to know that an earth seraph dwells not too far to the west." She informed. "Specifically, in a mountain range known as Rayfalke Spiritcrest, a few days of travel away from here."

"Great!" Sorey fisted a hand determinedly. "Then let's go tell Alisha and get ready to head out as soon as possible!" He turned to his side. "Come on, Mikleo!" He prompted.

"Right behind you." Mikleo agreed. "Let's go!"

Together, Shepherd and seraph set off on a brisk job through the fields towards the garrison on the edge of the camp. Velvet and Lailah watched as they ran off, bursting with determination to help the people around them. The rain continued to fall all around them, encasing the two of them in their own isolated world.

"…He really does want to save everyone, doesn't he?" Velvet mumbled softly under her breath.

At her side, Lailah nodded seriously. "…Yes." She agreed softly, carefully eyeing Velvet out of the corner of her eye. "Sorey genuinely wants to help every single person he meets." She affirmed.

Velvet let out a scoff. "…Then you were right to stop him from offering to help the townsfolk." She huffed, looking off to the side pensively. "That sort of foolish thinking can only lead to disaster."

Lailah was silent, her eyes carefully studying the former Lord of Calamity's demeanor.

"…I honestly cannot find a way to understand you, Velvet Crowe." She admitted, shaking her head. "For the life of me, I cannot fathom why such a being such as yourself would want to help a Shepherd such as Sorey succeed."

Velvet let out a sigh. "Forget it." She muttered, waving an uncaring hand in the air. "All I need from you is to keep teaching the Shepherd as you are." She met the fire seraph's eyes firmly, ordering, "Do what you have to do to make him grow into someone strong enough to take a 'being' such as myself down. That's all."

"What will you be doing while I do so, then?" Lailah returned, her eyes narrowing.

"I told you already, didn't I?" The woman abruptly turned on her heel and began walking off into the rain, away from the fire seraph. "I'll have to do something about those idiotic notions of his, though." She observed as she left, waving her bandaged hand over her shoulder. "Can't have him getting himself killed trying to do something impossible like saving every human in the world."

Just like that, she walked off into the storm, leaving the fire seraph alone on the top of the hill. Silently, Lailah watched as the enigmatic woman walked off into the rain, towards the direction where the Shepherd and his seraph had gone.

Behind her, the destroyed bridge hung uselessly from its perch, slowly crumbling to dust by means of wind and water.

----​

"Velvet, now!"

"Got it!"

With a cry, Velvet leapt towards the hellion's exposed back, her gauntlet blade springing out from its sheath. Deftly, the woman landed a single foot on the crumbling mountainside gravel and twisted, drawing her sword in a smooth arc across the back of the massive ogre. The hellion's guttural roar mixing bestial anger and agony resounded throughout Spiritcrest, bouncing off the razor-sharp cliffsides that made up the dense mountain range for miles around.

Not missing a beat, Velvet followed through with her successful slash attack and used the momentum to swing her other leg upward, simultaneously activating the hidden blade in her boot. Two deep gashes were drawn on the ogre's back, both angry shades of purple blood and gore.

Snarling and frothing from the mouth, the towering hellion turned deceptively quickly, bringing its club around to bear with frightening speed. Velvet swore, having only the time to bring her arms up in a partial block before the club landed.

CRACK!

Black spots danced in Velvet's vision as she tumbled roughly away from the attack on the sharp mountain gravel, her hair and coat tumbling with her as she finally came to a stop near the edge of the cliff. With a determined shake of her head, the woman dug a firm boot underneath her and got to her feet, only to have her eyes widen as she registered the ogre was charging directly for her, its club held high in the air.

"Azure Flurry!"

Right at that moment, a blinding swarm of otherworldly blue energy blasted through the dry windless air and smashed into the ogre's flank, causing it to recoil in agony and jerk its club to the side in reflex.

Velvet barely managed to dodge the falling club by lunging to the left, rolling away from the devastating explosion of dirt and gravel behind her. Deftly, she found the ground under her hands and pushed herself up, regaining her footing and turning to face their opponent once more with narrowed eyes, gasping for breath.

"You alright?"

She glanced briefly over her shoulder at Mikleo, whom had evidently de-armatized from Sorey and was looking her over for injuries to heal.

"I'm fine." She shook her head, dismissing the seraph's concerns. "We've got bigger problems to worry about."

"…No kidding." Mikleo muttered, raising his staff and closing his eyes, concentrating to bring an arte into to existence.

Velvet took the chance to catch her breath and survey the situation.

The group had arrived at Spiritcrest after a few days of travel and had been searching for the whereabouts of the earth seraph when they'd been attacked by a powerful hellion hell-bent on destroying the intruders in its home. And now here they were, battling a fearsome opponent on a narrow cliffside with a perilous fall on one side, leading down into a foggy abyss far, far below.

"Hah!" Sorey yelled, charging towards the ogre from his position across the cliffside path from Velvet. Behind him, Lailah let out a cry, snapping her arm outwards as she finished her arte.

BANG!

The ogre stumbled, its huge feet stomping heavily in the gravel and shaking the mountainside as it recovered from the explosion that had detonated at his flank. Capitalizing upon the distraction, Sorey rushed in and slashed a grazing blow on the side of the hellion, drawing blood.

Quickly as possible, the Shepherd ducked, dodging the retaliatory club swing that came perilously close to his head. Stumbling on his feet, Sorey retreated out of range of the ogre's swings, gasping for breath. "That was too close!" He gasped, gripping his sword with a death grip as sweat dripped off his chin.

"Be careful, Sorey!" Lailah warned worriedly, stepping back and drawing another casting card, preparing a second arte. "Your body isn't ready for another successive armatization just yet! If you get hit by that club…!" She didn't have to finish her sentence.

"Right!" Sorey nodded, catching his breath. "I will!"

"Velvet!" Mikleo abruptly yelled, his clothing flapping in the artificial wind generated as a byproduct of his casting. "Now's the time!"

Nodding, the woman charged forward in an instant, feeling the mana thrumming through the ground as the water seraph's arte completed.

SPLASH!

Right on cue, furious rushing waters blasted through the air and collided with the ogre hellion's body, causing it to reel backward and stumble, struggling to regain its footing in the aftermath of the attack. Velvet charged headlong up the center of the cliffside trail, her steel boots slamming rhythmically into the gravel as she neared her prey.

Suddenly, her eyes widened.

From out of nowhere, a figure fell down from the cliffs above and slammed into the earth between her and the ogre in a burst of dirt and gravel. Tendrils of residual wind mana dissipated from his being in the wake of a seraphic arte that had cushioned his landing. With a wry chuckle, the man got up from his knee and idly rolled his shoulders with a luxurious groan.

"Man, oh man…" He drawled into the stale, cold mountainside air, looking up into the heavens with his back to the group. "…What a bunch of amateurs."

With that, the man reached behind his back for a weapon protruding from inside the back of his waistband.

A very familiar weapon.

BANG!

Velvet held her bandaged arm up to shield her face from the vortex of wind that followed the activation of the man's weapon. A howl of unnatural wind blasted outwards from the shirtless man's form, resounding off the surrounding cliffside and echoing with a warped, twisted report that grated on the group's ears. Leather bands attached to his bare wrists flowed with the swirling winds, fluttering wildly alongside strands of his long, silver-green hair.

Velvet's arm lowered slowly as the identity of the person before her began to sink in. Memories long lost began once more to shine unbidden inside her mind. Fragments of a different time and a different world; one of ships roaming vast seas, of corrupted monsters wreaking havoc, and of knights wielding enslaved spirits as weapons.

And of a certain reaper. Of the rival he had tried so hard to save.

"…It looks like Zaveid here is gonna have to show you first timers how it's DONE!"

Zaveid the Whirlwind's astonishingly familiar voice resounded out as the seraph charged furiously toward the hellion, an unnatural wind at his back. "HAH!" He roared, flinging his arm outward while unleashing all of the charged-up mana stored within his body with a single arte.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

A vortex of razor-sharp blades of wind drove out from the wind seraph's figure, slicing through the air towards the ogre and slamming into its bulky form. Violent pops and cracks echoed off the surrounding mountains as the arte impaled the helpless hellion with the full force of a hurricane. A howling gale accompanied the attack, shredding through the world with the force of thunder. The sheer power of the arte effortlessly wrenched chunks of solid rock off the cliffside and cast them outwards into the ravine, hurtling into the foggy abyss down below.

The ogre hellion was cast bodily off its feet and onto its back, barely managing to slide to a stop a few meters away from the side of the cliff. Pieces of gravel slid with its body, tumbling over the edge of the pathway past its head and falling down into the abyss, rattling nosily in the deafening silence that followed the arte.

"Heh."

The wind seraph's steps were slow and measured as he approached the fallen ogre, his weapon gripped loosely in his right hand. Almost absently, the man reached into his pocket and drew out a single silver-tipped projectile and slotted it into the breach of his weapon.

With a click, the weapon closed, aimed directly at the head of the fallen hellion on the ground.

Lailah gasped, belatedly registering the seraph's intentions. "No, don't-!"

BANG!

Velvet watched the execution occur in front of her with her eyes narrowed. Just like that, the memories had been torn to shreds. Disrupted by the cruel reality of just how much everything had changed. Once, Zaveid had been just a fighter; nothing more. The man who stood before her now… wasn't him. For the world she remembered no longer existed.

Her fists curled.

"…You killed it." Velvet's statement broke the shocked silence.

At the sound of her voice, Zaveid's body froze in shock. Slowly, ever so slowly, the seraph turned around, Seigfried held loosely in his grip.

Ever so slowly, his wide brown eyes met Velvet's.

She stared unaffectedly back at the seraph, crossing her arms and raising a single eyebrow in response.

A rare, dry breeze blew through the ravine, warped by the surrounding jagged cliff faces to produce a haunting moan that sent a shiver down the group's spines. Pieces of gravel scattered in the soft wind, rattling off the edge of the cliff and falling noisily down into the abyss, echoing in the stale air. High up in the sky, the dull white sun continued to shine, providing little to no heat in the dark and shadowed gorges formed by the mountains of Spiritcrest.

It was a place of nothing but emptiness and sorrow, wrapped in an ominous fog shielding the rest of the world from view.

Abruptly, Zaveid let his face break into a big arrogant grin and raised his shoulders in an uncaring shrug, shaking his head and addressing Velvet's statement. "Hey," he drawled, "it was a hellion. And hellions belong in hell." He pointed out drolly.

Mikleo stormed up behind Velvet, fury in his eyes. "You bastard!" He exclaimed.

Sorey's voice was laced with horror as he stepped forward as well. "…We could've safely purified it. There was no reason to kill it!" He implored.

"Safely, huh?" Zaveid let out a ridiculing laugh, tilting his head upwards in mock thought. "It looked to me like the lot of you were getting your asses kicked." He raised an eyebrow at the group. "You guys should really be glad that I stepped in when I did."

"That doesn't mean you had any right to murder that human!" Mikleo yelled, taking an aggressive step forward and gesturing at the bleeding body of the human lying where the ogre had been. His eyes widened in horror as he took in the state of the corpse, balking at the sheer amount of blood. "H-how could you do such a thing?!" he breathed.

Unaffected by the evident horror and disgust of the water seraph, Zaveid waved a hand in the air.

"For some, death is a kind of salvation, you might say. That's why." He stated simply.

A kind of salvation… huh?

Velvet studied Zaveid's eyes acutely. There was no joking edge in the seraph's expression; no wry edge to his smirk. An unnatural coldness seemed to have slithered its way into Zaveid's eyes. She knew right then and there that he had meant every single word he had said about killing hellions.

How things had changed.

"How… how could you say such a thing?" Sorey mumbled, aghast. "You can't just decide something like that! Killing… killing should never be condoned!" Sorey declared. "

His eyes were drawn briefly to Velvet at his side before he continued hesitantly.

"At... At the very least, there has to be a good reason for why one does something so horrible!" He stated with growing vigor in his words. "That's what I believe!"

Velvet blinked and glanced at the Shepherd with surprise at his words.

To their astonishment, the wind seraph abruptly burst into laughter in response to Sorey's statement. "Oh, that's rich!" He exclaimed into the sky before lowering his head, meeting Sorey's eyes with a mocking grin. "I can always count on the Shepherd and his posse to be a bunch of goody two-shoes, can't I?" He remarked, crossing his arms across his bare chest.

"…The name's Zaveid." He grinned arrogantly. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, gentle Shepherd." With that mocking statement, the wind seraph flung out his wrist.

Quick as lightning, Velvet's sword flew out of its sheath and intercepted the pendulum shooting out from Zaveid's wrist that had been aimed at Sorey. The two weapons met together in a resounding clang that disturbed the silence of the world.

"The hell is your problem?" Velvet challenged with a snarl, shifting in her boots into a combat stance before Sorey, her gauntlet blade held at a low ready. Behind her, the group tensed automatically, reaching for their weapons.

Zaveid raised a single eyebrow in response. "My problem is that the moment I show up to wrestle with a dragon, the Shepherd and his toadies drop in unannounced to ruin my fun."

"Dragon?" Sorey blinked.

Mikleo gripped his staff tightly in his grip, shooting Sorey a glance. "…The people back by Griflet Bridge were talking about a rumored dragon living in Rayfalke Spiritcrest." He muttered. "But I thought it was just a myth."

"Lailah?" Sorey and Mikleo turned to the fire seraph, whose eyes were troubled.

The fire seraph shook her head. "Regardless, dragon or not," she addressed Zaveid, "we are not here to battle one. Your concern is noted."

"Oh… but that just won't do." Slowly, the seraph fell into a battle-ready stance, his pendulum-wielding arms held low at his sides. He let out a savage grin, eying every seraph and human standing before him. "Do you really think I'm going to let you all get eaten by the dragon and compound his power?" He let out a scoff, rolling his shoulders and falling fully into a combat stance. "Now that's a risk I am not willing to take."

"Better that you all die by my hand, here and now!"

And just like that, the seraph charged.

"Scatter!" Velvet ordered, raising her sword in preparation for Zaveid's attack. Behind her, Sorey and the seraphim backed off, with the Shepherd providing defensive protection from any casting interference attempted by their opponent. Taking an aggressive stance, the woman lunged forward and met Zaveid's charge, lithely manipulating her sword to guard against the two pendulums flying her way.

"Damn, girl!" Zaveid drawled, spinning around and dodging Velvet's retaliatory swing, aided by a burst of wind mana. "You're good! What're you doing hangin' out with a bunch of losers like them?"

Velvet's response was a swift and decisive kick, driving the wind seraph even further away from her position. "Mikleo! Lailah!" She yelled.

"Okay!" "Understood!"

Together, both water and fire seraphim finalized their artes and let the mana flow through their bodies. Flame and water mixed together in a trail of sizzling steam as both artes flew through the air towards their target. Zaveid grunted as he leapt upwards into the air to avoid the artes, aided by a gust of precisely incurred wind mana.

As he arced smoothly through the air, Zaveid flicked his hand towards the casting seraphim in retaliation, sending spikes of wind hurtling their way. Both Lailah and Mikleo were hard-pressed to dodge, leaping out of the way of the impaling blades, which slammed into the earth they'd previously been standing on.

Sorey met Zaveid the moment he touched ground, slashing his ceremonial sword towards the man's chest. With swift footwork, the wind seraph dodged and raised his arm to retaliate, only to be forced to leap backwards in a backflip as a gauntlet blade sailed through the air he had just been occupying.

Velvet didn't let up, swinging around and slamming her left boot into the seraph's gut and sending him stumbling backwards, the wind knocked out of him. Sorey followed through and drove his sword from the seraph's shoulder to his abdomen, carving a light gash on his exposed skin.

Hissing in pain, Zaveid retaliated by flinging his arms out to his sides, unleashing wind mana outwards and sending both Velvet and Sorey stumbling backwards and away from him. The two of them quickly regained their footing, shifting their weights and lifting their weapons to reinitiate the fight once more.

With a grunt, the wind seraph abruptly held up an open palm, taking a step back from the fighters as they began to charge back towards him.

"Whoa! Hold up!" He yelled, stopping them in their tracks. "I'm sorry, alright?!"

Velvet let out a huff, sheathing her gauntlet blade and crossing her arms. "Didn't work out as well as you planned, I take it?" She deduced dryly, raising an eyebrow.

"Damned right it didn't." Zaveid grunted sourly, absently taking his right hand and running it over the light gash Sorey had inflicted, healing it with an arte. He turned to the seraphim walking over with guarded expressions and shook his head. "That's enough guys, okay?" He called.

"Hey," Mikleo's eyes were narrowed, "you were the one who attacked us!"

"Geez." Zaveid relaxed and gave a helpless shrug, standing up straight. "I said I was sorry, didn't I?" He pointed out. His eyes were drawn to Sorey's guarded ones. "Let's call a truce for now. Deal?" he proposed.

"Fair enough." Sorey sheathed his sword firmly, nodding his head seriously. "There's no reason for us to fight."

"Did that stop him from attacking us in the first place?" Mikleo grumbled.

"Aw, give it a rest." Zaveid grinned, strolling forward easily towards the group. On his way, he easily laid an elbow upon Lailah's shoulder, giving the fire seraph a friendly nudge. "Besides, we're all part of the same team in the end, ya know?"

The fire seraph looked away from the man. "Are we, truly?"

Zaveid leaned in closer to the woman's face with a grin. "Well, of course, I don't plan on becoming anyone's Sub Lord… but I'd say so." With a shrug, he lifted his arm from Lailah's shoulder and fell into an easy trot downhill away from the group. "Well then, I'll leave you alone, your Shepherdness."

Sorey shifted on his feet. "It's Sorey." He pointed out tersely.

Zaveid came to a halt and gave him a wry grin over his shoulder that showed just how much he cared. "Sure, sure." He shrugged. "Just don't forget, if you see a dragon, run. I hope you've got at least that much sense in that brain of yours."

Slowly, his eyes seemed to wander into the distance, his grin fading from his expression. "…I'll leave you to it, Sorey the Shepherd. I've got better things to do."

His eyes met Velvet's for a split second, an uncharacteristic seriousness in his expression.

"…I've still got promises to keep."

His gentle words rang softly into the stale air.

And just like that, Zaveid resumed walking and left the group on the side of the mountain, the sound of his boots crunching in the gravel receding into the distance.

Mikleo broke the silence. "…Just what the hell is that guy's problem?"

Sorey shook his head wordlessly, glancing over his shoulder at the corpse still lying by the side of the cliff.

Mikleo followed his gaze soberly. "…I can't understand someone like that." He muttered. "Someone who would kill because he thinks it's 'best' for someone."

"…Yeah." Sorey mumbled. "It's sickening."

At his side, Lailah's hands were held cordially in front of her. "…Let us be off." She urged. "We have our own agenda to fulfill."

"Right." Sorey nodded softly.

Unnoticed by the group, Velvet had walked off to the side of the cliff, staring off into the distance, alone. Her arms were crossed, tucked tightly against her chest in an instinctively defensive posture. A dull breeze blew through the gorge, gently clinking the chains on her outfit and filling the silence as she absently looked out into the dead, haunting landscape.

Random conversations flitted through her mind.

Lectures of ancient artefacts; the true worth of treasures waiting to be discovered out there in the vast wide-open ocean. Statements of a creed; a way of life that made existing a matter of choice and desire. Expressions of love for a crew; a family of those cast out from society whom had found solace and purpose in each other.

…A promise.

Zaveid's words had unleashed an overwhelming cascade of dismay and horror through her body.

The moment he'd uttered them, she'd known exactly what he'd meant.

Velvet's fists clenched, hard. Her eyes boiled with a mass of mixed emotions. Unfamiliar and unwelcome feelings clashed with the bittersweet memories of a time long since passed. A searing hot lance of sadness in her heart threatened to overcome the steadiness and determination she always maintained.

Sadness for the loss of the world she'd once known.

In the distance, the peak of Rayfalke Spiritcrest loomed ominously; an inevitable destination in a long and arduous journey.

----​

The moment the group passed over the threshold into the domain, they felt it.

A keen sense of repulsion and terror collectively lanced up their spines, driven by an animalistic instinct telling them to run; run as far away as possible from the being so unnaturally powerful as to dominate the surrounding area like so. Their steps came to a shuddering halt as they stumbled, grasping at their heads at the feelings of disorientation and nausea seeping in.

"Gah…!" Sorey shook his head forcibly in an attempt to regain his senses. "What… what is this?" He mumbled, glancing around with scrunched-up eyes.

The path had taken the group through the heart of Spiritcrest, leading them up and up into the heavens. The land had sprawled before them; their world laid out bare before the towering and foreboding shadows of the jagged mountain range. Plains, forests, mountains and hills had meshed together in a fantastic tapestry of pure unadulterated natural beauty. In the distance, the white, cool sun could have been seen slowly setting into the distant horizon, sending long, harsh shadows all across the fields far, far below.

Yet now, the world below had become obscured by a whirling vortex of purple miasma. Particles of pure, concentrated malevolence whirled around the domain like snow in a whirling blizzard. Violent gales of wind blasted sporadically in every direction with no rhyme nor meaning, tearing through the air with the ferocity of an untamed beast. An otherworldly rumble emitted from the very mountain itself; proof of the extent of the domain's corruption.

At Sorey's side, Mikleo had a hand up in front of his face, shielding him from the worst of the winds. "This… this must be the domain!" He realized in shock. He whipped around to face Lailah with wide eyes. "Lailah, can malevolence really corrupt a domain like this?!"

"N-no." Lailah shook her head, distraught. "The strongest entity in the domain decides its form." She explained. "It has absolutely nothing to do with right or wrong…" Her eyes were drawn to the raven-haired woman standing behind Mikleo.

"…or malevolence." She finished as an afterthought, blinking in surprise. Velvet wasn't listening to her.

In fact, Lailah was sure that the woman wasn't aware of anything at the moment. The fire seraph's eyebrows furrowed as she took a closer look at the woman while Mikleo and Sorey began hurriedly discussing the implications of her earlier words.

Both of Velvet's fists were clenched hard at her sides; almost as if she were physically attempting to force herself to focus through the catharsis of pain in her palms. Her entire body was stock still in the wind; a statue of suppressed emotion.

Yet it was the emotion clearly present in the eyes of Velvet Crowe that confused Lailah the most.

Horror.

The manipulative, callous hellion that Lailah had come to fear now stood there in the midst of the occupied domain with trembling eyes and a shaken expression. That cold, calculated mask that she always wore had inexplicably vanished, leaving behind an almost vulnerablelooking woman in its wake.

But why…?

"Guys! Look out!"

Mikleo's call of alarm drew the attention of the entire group, causing them to gaze up into the purple fog in shock.

From out of the purple clouds fell a single arrow of darkness, approaching at blistering speeds towards the peak. In the blink of an eye, the monster shot lithely overhead the group, pushing down a furious gale in its wake to blast the group with an astounding amount of force. The group scrambled to find their footing in the furious hurricane that had been caused by the mere passing of the aerial hellion.

Sorey slammed his sword into the ground and grunted, cranking his neck and tracking the speck of black as it circled around the peak. "…The legendary harbinger of destruction." He muttered, shoving himself to his feet, his sword in hand.

"…A dragon." He breathed.

By his side, Velvet's fists clenched harder, her nails digging sharply into her flesh. She stood up in the wake of the billowing winds, her eyes fixed on the form of the monster circling her high up in the sky. The monster that had she had once considered an unlikely friend. A fragment from a different time and a different world.

"…Eizen." She mumbled under her breath, the word quickly snatched away by the billowing gales of the dragon's swirling domain.

It had been too long since she had said that name.

Her eyes closed in consternation as she shook her head slightly. No, that wasn't right. Rather, it had been too long since she had left.

The reaper malak once known as Eizen no longer existed in this world. The ship that he had been first mate of had long since disappeared into the clutches of time. The lands and oceans that he had once known like the back of his hand had long since become unrecognizable.

All that remained now…

Her eyes slid open, her body tensing slowly as a fell determination overcame her with a crushing grip.

All that remained was to make sure his ideals lived on. That he died on his terms, not on anyone else's. That nothing; fate, gods, or malevolence; held any part of who and what he was, and how he would live his life. That he would enjoy a short and brilliant existence, before the choices he had made finally caught up to him and doomed him to the end that he'd chosen.

It was Velvet's obligation to make sure her friend followed his creed to the end. It was just that simple.

Just the way Eizen had wanted his life to be.

The dragon slammed onto the center of the peak across from her, uttering a terrifying roar that rattled the very stones of the mountain. Tendrils of pure malevolence weaved and winded its way around the body of the jagged beast's hide, encasing it in a prison of its own sins. Two massive horns jutted out from its angular, serrated head, complementing the pair of vast, flowing wings sprouting from its back, braced by thick, veined muscles. Glistening saliva dripped from the row of vicious, serrated teeth arrayed along the edge of its gaping maw, hungry for prey.

This was the monster that she would have to kill to set Eizen free. The final stage of a malak afflicted with the curse of daemonblight; a being so powerful and so corrupted that it knew nothing more than the rending of flesh and the gnashing of bone.

So be it.

Her left bandaged arm lifted of its own accord, its palm angled directly at the form of the hideous monster across the peak from her. Malevolence began to emanate from the arm itself as she prepared to expel all her might in one forceful push. Her eyes narrowed in determination.

It was time to set Eizen free.

"…can't be! Are you Edna?!" Lailah's cry abruptly broke through to Velvet's senses.

The name awoke something in her; a memory from long, long ago.

A reminder of the one person whom Eizen had wanted to keep safe. The one person whom Eizen had longed to have alongside him, more than any other treasure in the world.

His sister.

And just like that, Velvet snapped out of it, whipping her bandaged arm back down to her side, cursing herself.

"Oh, Edna… I can't believe it! You… a dragon…!" Lailah had apparently fallen into hysterics.

"Nope. Guess again."

BANG!

A massive slab of rock abruptly jutted out from the ground with a deafening crack, slamming into the dragon with an explosion of rock and gravel and causing it to reel backwards in a daze. The group blinked in surprise, turning to the source of the arte approaching them from the other side of the peak.

"Huh?" Lailah blinked in shock, taking in the form of the umbrella-holding girl trotting nonchalantly through the howling domain towards them. "There are two Ednas?"

The earth seraph's blue eyes were unaffected as she stopped before the group and raised an eyebrow at the fire seraph. "Your conclusion is peculiar." She remarked, giving the members of the group a cursory once-over.

Her gaze slid smoothly over Velvet without pause.

Instead, the seraph turned around and faced the form of the dragon that had circumvented the slab of rock and begun snarling at the group once more. "Brother." She uttered in the malevolent air. "You must stop."

Her response was another blood-curdling roar, shaking the mountainside and causing her umbrella to wobble precariously in her grip from the force of its bellow.

Her eyes slid downwards softly. "…So. Even my voice no longer reaches you." She mumbled lowly, looking away.

Abruptly, her eyes snapped back to the group. "He's coming." She announced furtively. "Run like the wind, now!" With that, she fell into a brisk trot past the startled group.

Mikleo blinked. "Is she the seraph we were looking for, Lailah?" He asked hesitantly.

Lailah nodded brightly. "She is!" She confirmed.

"Then let's get going." Velvet interjected forcibly, falling into a run after the earth seraph. "Now!"She stressed over her shoulder.

Lailah blinked, her eyes following Velvet's suddenly familiar demeanor for a few seconds before snapping out of it.

"R-right!" She nodded, turning to Sorey and Mikleo. "Let's!" She urged.

Together, the group broke into a frantic sprint, charging back down the hill and away from the lair of the legendary harbinger of destruction. The furious roars of the dragon echoed throughout the mountain range, hounding after the retreating humans and seraphim.

As she ran, Velvet couldn't help but feel that there was a sort of anger in those bellows.

Anger at her betrayal.

Gritting her teeth, the therion forced herself to forget about it and keep on running. She had to keep going, she reminded herself. She had to keep moving forward. Away from the past. That was just who she was.

The thudding of her boots on gravel was her only companion as she ran away.

----​

Clear blue waters flowed gently through the shallow river, calmly reflecting the tranquil image of the bright moon hanging high in the starry night sky. Crickets chirped in the grassy clearing surrounded by forest, their songs intertwining with the chilly night breeze softly rustling the trees and bushes.

Alongside the soft murmur of the natural ambiance came the repetitive scratching of a brush on metal. The artificial sound rang out crisply into the quiet night. Velvet's eyes were distant as she worked, methodically scrubbing one of the group's cooking pots by the river with the aid of a brush and the clear flowing waters.

The day's events continued to replay themselves inside her head. The abrupt encounter with Zaveid. The confrontation by one of the assassins of the Scattered Bones. Meeting Edna. Discovering Eizen's cruel fate… Her teeth gritted together as she gave her head a rough jerk to the side, forcing herself to focus on the task at hand.

What mattered was that the group now had an earth seraph travelling with them. Edna had agreed to join the Shepherd's group shortly after discovering the true extent of Sorey's purity, quickly ordering Lailah to allow her to become her Sub Lord. And now the group was on their way back to the Griflet Bridge, determined to aid the suffering people with her help.

What mattered was that there was once more a way forward for the Shepherd; more trials were now open for him to overcome.

Velvet turned the pot over underneath the surface of the river, roughly scrubbing a particularly stubborn patch of soot on the outside. Edna was quite the character, she reflected dryly. Just the sort of person she'd come to expect from the little excerpts she'd remembered from Eizen's letters. She had to admit, it was particularly amusing to see somebody other than herself annoying Mikleo to high heaven.

Suddenly, her brush stopped. Her spine stiffened as she registered the sound of somebody walking through the forest behind her towards the clearing.

After a moment, Velvet laid the now cleaned pot on a dry towel arranged neatly beside her and reached for another one of the soiled bowls. It wasn't long before the light footsteps entered the clearing and approached her, stopping gently behind her.

Velvet continued to scrub, working to ensure that the bowl she was cleaning was entirely clean, heedless of the other person standing behind her.

After a pause, Edna moved to kneel down comfortably down alongside Velvet by the side of the river and reached for a bowl and a brush as well. The scratching of her brush mixed with Velvet's and rang out into the night.

Neither of them said a word as they worked.

The chirping of the crickets and the soft babbling of the river filled the companionable silence as both women cleaned the rest of the group's cooking equipment, each methodically ensuring that each dish and utensil was spotless before placing it on the drying towel.

With an abrupt sigh, Edna put down the last of the pot she had been working on and leant back on her hands, gazing up into the stars.

"Nice weather tonight, wouldn't you say, Lord of Calamity?" She observed conversationally.

Not missing a beat, Velvet responded easily, "It's not bad." She flung loose droplets of water off her hands with a flick of her wrist and reached for the towel. "Used to be colder, though." She remarked.

"Hm." Edna hummed. "I agree."

The seraph glanced over her shoulder at a pile of dirty clothing lying at her side with a grumpy glare. "…We still have to clean all of that, don't we?" She muttered resentfully.

Velvet shook her head wryly. "A thousand years go by and the men still expect the women to do their laundry for them." She remarked.

"That's humans for you." Edna sighed, reaching over and tossing a dirty shirt over to Velvet who caught it with a firm hand. "Always stuck in the same old rut."

"Can't argue with that." Velvet agreed, flapping the shirt in the air and sending grains of dirt and dust into the air. Together, the two of them got back to work, washing the clothing in the river underneath the night sky.

"…Brother used to talk about you all the time in his letters." Edna's voice was soft and nostalgic, her eyes fixed on the task at hand as she worked. "It got kinda annoying, really."

"Oh?" Velvet gave Edna a sideways glance as she scrubbed the dirt off the shirt. "Out of curiosity then, what did he say about me?"

Edna gave a shrug, giving the pants she was washing a firm flick before plunging them in the waters. "Typical stuff." She dismissed. "He told me all about you and your little band of weirdos and your exploits around the world." She gave Velvet a glance. "…I wrote back and told him you sounded like a real bad influence, and that he should get his butt away from you before he caught your crazy bug." She claimed.

Velvet raised an eyebrow at the seraph. "That… doesn't sound right. From what I remember," she pointed out, "what you wrote was something along the lines of me being… 'appropriate' for him, I think." She paused for a moment, thinking hard. "…And that one day, you'd love to meet me." The memories of that one night were suddenly crystal clear in her head, warm and fuzzy. A memory at stark odds with the mountain looming quietly in the distance behind her.

At her words Edna let out a sigh, shaking her head softly and staring out into the waters with a distant look. "…If he trusted you enough to tell you what I wrote to him," she muttered, "then the two of you really must've really been close."

Velvet let out a huff, a small smile growing unbidden on her face. "Your brother was a real handful, I can tell you that much."

She laid the now cleaned shirt aside and leant back as well, curling up her left leg and resting her arms upon it pensively. "For one, that reaper's curse of his got our group into more bouts of trouble than I care to count." Her smile was soft and strong. "It was never a dull moment around with the reaper in our midst, that was for sure. I swear, there were times where I wanted to punch him in the teeth purely out of spite towards all the irritating crap that he caused to happen to us."

Edna gently twirled her unopened umbrella in her hands. "…And yet," she asked quietly, "he still allowed you near him? He didn't… leave you?" Her voice was soft and gentle.

Almost fragile.

Velvet's face softened. She shifted, turning to face the seraph fully. "…Edna." She began seriously.

"I can't say exactly how close Eizen and I were as friends back then, long, long ago." She admitted openly. "I can't honestly say for sure if we ever really considered ourselves anything more than allies headed in the same direction… even at the very end of it all." She shrugged. "That was just how our group was."

She shook her head. "...But what I can say for sure is that none of us; nobody in the entire world even; ever came close to how important you were to him." She finished firmly. "I promise you that."

Edna was silent in response, her unopened umbrella held motionless in her grip. Her eyes stared out into the distance, unseeing.

She let out a soft sigh. "…I guess it's safe to say that you haven't changed over the years, Velvet Crowe." She observed dryly, turning her body to face Velvet fully and raised an eyebrow. "…I'd introduce myself, but that would be redundant."

Velvet smirked openly. "Right back at you." She shot back.

She shrugged. "And as for my personality," she addressed her earlier words, "well, I suppose that in some ways, I'm as stubborn as your brother in that respect."

"Tsk." Edna clicked her tongue in disgust. "Like I said. Appropriate."

Velvet let out a soft laugh, turning back around and resuming her work cleaning clothes. At her side, Edna followed her lead, starting on another shirt from the pile of dirty laundry. Together, they continued work; a seraph and a hellion doing the Shepherd's laundry.

"…By the way," Edna eventually broke the silence once again, "exactly what was the deal with that doll he sent me?" She implored.

Caught utterly off-guard, Velvet let a laugh as she was reminded yet again of another obscure memory.

"That's… a bit of a long story." She explained dryly.

Edna gave the therion a glare. "Do you know just how creepy that thing was?" She demanded hotly. "Staring at me when it thought I wasn't looking? Always watching me, no matter where I put it? Just what was my brother thinking when he sent that to me?!" She implored.

Velvet raised an eyebrow. "But you kept it, didn't you?" She asked pointedly.

Pouting, Edna let out an indignant huff and turned back to her work, inadvertently confirming Velvet's statement with her silence.

Shaking her head wryly, Velvet explained, "That doll, Phoenix, was there to protect you, Edna. Regardless of how weird that little normin was, he always kept his promises to the letter." She shrugged. "That's why Eizen sent him to you; because he knew he'd protect you from anything that came your way."

The therion reconsidered her own words. "Well, now that I think about it," she contemplated, "whenever he did pretty much anything… it was always with your safety in mind."

Edna's fists clenched abruptly.

"…That idiot." She growled under her breath.

"My safety, huh? Just how fragile did that moron think I was?" Her eyes closed tightly as her jaw clenched. "…Did he really think I was worth what happened to him in the end?" She seethed.

Just like that, the light atmosphere had been broken by the addressing of the elephant of the room. Behind their backs, the looming crags of Spiritcrest rose from the land, silhouetted ominously in the night sky.

In the silence, Edna let out a sigh.

"…He just had to die on his own terms, regardless of what it meant to anyone else." Her fists clenched over the grip of her umbrella.

"…To me." She whispered under her breath.

Velvet's eyes were soft as she watched the poor seraph suffer with the fate of her brother. In a way, she was reminded of herself. Of a young girl deep inside of a monster who just missed her precious brother.

"Edna." she murmured into the air. "…I'm sorry."

The words sounded pathetic the moment they left her lips. She cursed herself internally for being so useless.

In response, the earth seraph shook her head slowly.

"…You don't have to say that, dummy." She met Velvet's eyes with uncharacteristically emotional eyes. "It's obvious how much you care…" she paused haltingly. "…cared for my brother."

Edna exhaled deeply and steadied herself, waving a hand to her side. "I'm sure it was a pretty nasty surprise to discover what had happened to him for you too." She observed dryly. "Regardless of your ancient reputation, Velvet, you can be certain that I'm very well aware of the kind of person you truly are."

Velvet let out a soft smile in response. "…Eizen was that descriptive, huh?"

Edna sighed. "Like I said. Annoyingly so."

Together, the two women let a companionable silence fall between them as they stayed there, listening to the night ambiance and letting themselves remember times long since passed. Honoring and remembering the person they'd held dear to themselves.

SNAP!

Suddenly, Velvet blinked at the sound of a snapping twig, leaping to her feet and whipping around, her gauntlet blade held at a low ready by her side. "Who's there?!" She demanded into the air. At her side, Edna got up as well, following the hellion's lead and holding her umbrella at the ready in preparation for a possible attacker.

In response, a drawling voice rang out throughout the clearing.

"Hey ladies. Nice night, ain't it?"

Velvet rolled her eyes, lowering her guard as Zaveid the Whirlwind strolled out from the bush and into the moonlight, a coy grin plastered on his face.

"It was a nice night." Was Edna's dry retort as she poked the approaching shirtless seraph with her umbrella.

"Ouch! Hey!" Zaveid yelped, hopping away, his hands held out defensively in front of his body. "Now is that really how a proper lady says hi to an old friend, Edna?"

Edna let out a sigh, pumping her umbrella open and resting it lightly on her shoulder. "You certainly haven't changed." She muttered.

"Oh?" Velvet put a hand on her hip, raising an eyebrow as she ran her eyes over Zaveid's starkly different appearance. "He seems pretty different to me from the last time I saw him."

Edna deadpanned. "And that was what, a thousand years ago?"

Grinning indulgently, Zaveid capitalized on Velvet's words and spun around theatrically, thrusting his hips outwards and raising his arms outward. "Ooh, yeah. She knows what's up." He smirked arrogantly, puffing his chest out. "Do tell, Velvet dear." He drawled. "You dig?"

Velvet's eye twitched.

Nonchalantly, the therion proceeded to drop-kick the perverted seraphim across the entirety of the clearing.

"GAH!" Zaveid groaned, tumbling away from the two women as Velvet landed gently on the ground in the wake of her attack.

Without words, Edna raised a single hand in the air. Following through, Velvet walked away from the twitching form of Zaveid and returned Edna's high-five with an indignant breath.

"Heh… Damn." Zaveid laughed wryly as he found the ground below him and leapt back onto his feet, wiping dirt off his shoulders. "That's something I haven't felt in a while."

Edna cocked her head to the side dryly. "Humility?"

"Nah!" Zaveid laughed her comment off, waving his hand. "I was just remembering the times when Velvet kicked my ass back in the day." He grinned, trotting back over to the two women by the side of the river. "Those were good times."

"That's your idea of a good time?" Velvet raised her eyebrow incredulously.

"Masochist." Edna accused.

Waving his hands, Zaveid elaborated, "I meant the whole Age of Chaos thing in general." He grinned nostalgically, glancing between Velvet and Edna. "You two should know what I'm talking about. Those were the days!"

Velvet shrugged, a hand on her hip. "If you say so."

Edna twirled her umbrella idly in her hands. "It's all a blur to me, really."

"Awe, don't be like that, girls!" Zaveid implored. "C'mon! Let's just the three of us share some old memories like the wizened beings we are. It'll be fun!"

A pause in the wake of his words, filled with the chuckling of the river and the chirping of crickets.

Edna turned her head to the side. "We should get back to work."

Velvet nodded. "Good idea."

Together, the two women jointly turned their backs on the wind seraph and walked back over to the side of the river, sitting back down by the side of the river in favor of gathering more soiled clothes to wash.

Zaveid's eye twitched.

"Oh, come on!" He yelped indignantly, heatedly trotting over to the two working women and standing before them. "You can't tell me that doing chores is more appealing than chatting with the great Zaveid the Whirlwind?" He grinned.

"People who refer to themselves in third person are strange." Edna's voice was utterly unaffected as she reached into the river with a bundled-up shirt to squeeze the dirt out.

"Yeesh." Zaveid winced. "That one actually stung a bit." He muttered, turning around and leaning back casually against the side of a tree, watching the two women work.

The splashing of water and the rustling of leaves in the night breeze filled the silence once more. High up in the sky, the moon continued to shine softly into the night, blanketing the world with a soft blue light.

"…Say, Velvet."

Zaveid's serious tone broke the silence. The woman in question glanced over her shoulder at the seraph who was now watching her keenly.

"You wanna let me in on why exactly a big nasty Lord of Calamity such as yourself," he gestured towards her, "is hanging out with a new Shepherd's group? Especially without them being in the know about it?" The seraph held a thoughtful hand on his chin. "It's been buggin' me ever since I saw you earlier today, and I just haven't been able to put a finger on why."

"That's because you're all brawn and no brain." Edna retorted dryly. "She's obviously here to save Maotelus by using Sorey as a purification tool." She turned to meet Velvet's eyes. "Isn't that right?"

Surprised, but not too much so, Velvet nodded slowly. "…Yeah. That pretty much sums it up."

"Thought so."

Zaveid let out a low whistle, drawing the attention of both women. "Damn." He uttered. "So, that means you gotta put up with those goody-goody brats 24/7?" He let out an empathetic groan. "That sounds awful."

Velvet shrugged in response. "It's not bad, really." she answered. "They're manageable, I suppose."

Edna turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "So. What do you think? You think Sorey has what it takes to purify one of the Five Lords?"

Zaveid abruptly burst out into raucous laughter at the very notion. "That straight-edge?! Yeah right!" He grinned, shaking his head. "Velvet, honey, I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but I'm afraid your Shepherd isn't fit to purify a gnat, let alone a god."

Velvet let out a sigh, her eyes pensive. "I'm aware."

"…Although… From the looks of things," Edna's words were quiet and thoughtful, "it looks like he does have a bit of strength in him. The annoyingly stubborn kind."

Velvet turned to the earth seraph with a raised eyebrow.

"…So, what do you think then, Edna?" She inquired softly. "Does the Shepherd Sorey have the potential to one day do what I need him to do?"

Zaveid interjected, "I don't think you need an answer for that." He let out a lazy shrug, waving a hand towards Edna. "I think the fact that she became Lailah's Sub Lord says all you need to know about what she thinks about the precious Shepherd Sorey." He pointed out.

He let out an arrogant smirk. "Whaddya think, Edna? Not so lacking in the brains department after all, huh?" He goaded.

Edna gave him a terrifying glare in response. "Don't put words in my mouth." she growled lowly.

Gulping, Zaveid instinctively raised his arms in surrender in the face of the earth seraph's terrifying ire, hastily backing away from her in acute self-preservation.

Meanwhile, Velvet hummed thoughtfully, considering the wind seraph's words. "…I guess we'll see then, won't we?" She muttered.

"I guess we will." Edna agreed, calmly turning back towards her work as if nothing had ever happened.

Sauntering back over, Zaveid spoke up, "Speaking of which, hey Velvet, where's your buddy?" he asked curiously.

The therion raised her eyebrow at the seraph in response. At her unspoken question, he elaborated, "I'm talkin' about Leo." He explained. "Where the heck is that guy? The two of you were damn close back in the day if I remember correctly."

"Leo… I don't know." Velvet responded honestly, shaking her head. "When we got back, we were separated. I haven't seen him in months." Suddenly, an idea sprang to mind as she took a closer look at Zaveid.

The wind seraph blinked. "Huh? Something on my face?"

"…Zaveid." Velvet began. "Would you mind keeping an eye out for Leo and Hawk wherever you decide to go?" She asked.

"Huh. A missing persons search, eh?"

Zaveid rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he settled down in the dirt alongside Velvet, a pensive expression on his face. "…Well," he shrugged, "I think I do remember his face well enough to do so, and I guess it's no real inconvenience for me to keep an eye out for 'em."

His grin grew cocky. "…I'll do it if you give me a kiss." He proposed.

Velvet let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

CRASH!

"GAHAH!"

Zaveid's cry of agony resounded out through the surrounding area, breaking the tranquility of the night. He laid back on his back, clutching a particularly red palm-strike on his right cheek, tears brimming in his eyes. "D-damn." He groaned, lifting his head blearily. "That's one hell of a way to ask a favor."

"Idiot." Edna trotted over and poked his prone form with her umbrella. "Just what did you expect from the Lord of Calamity? Now get going."

Zaveid grunted, swatting away her umbrella and getting to his feet. "What, you want me gone so soon?" he complained. "But I just got here!"

Rolling her eyes, Velvet shrugged. "You can stay… But you have to help with the laundry." She met Zaveid's eyes with dangerously narrowed eyes. "Or else."

Bristling, Zaveid met her challenge with a fanged grin. "Or else what?"

Velvet held her bandaged arm up with a dry look. "I'll eat you." She threatened.

"Oh." Zaveid's grin vanished. "Right. Forgot about that."

"Now get to work or get out of my sight." she growled lowly. "Move it."

"Y-Yikes. Yes ma'am…" Zaveid sighed as he shuffled obediently over to the therion's side. "…Remind me again," he mumbled resentfully, "just how exactly did this go from a casual chat between old pals to me washing the damn Shepherd's underwear in the river…?"

Edna sighed, turning away from the other two and shaking her head in exasperation. "…Why do I get the feeling that nothing's going to get done tonight?" She asked into the open air. Despite her words, there was a peculiar smile on her face as she stared up into the distance, staring at the distant figure of Spiritcrest, silhouetted by the stars.

"…Well. Looks like thing'll be getting interesting at the very least." She muttered wryly to herself.

With one last twirl of her umbrella, the earth seraph turned her back to the mountains and went back to the former Lord of Calamity's side, her mind turning to contemplate the long road ahead for the Shepherd's group.

The moon continued to glow softly high up in the night sky, accompanied by the dim celestial light emitted by the few stars keeping it company in a sea of darkness.

----​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

Author's Note: You may have noticed a significant uptick in writing quality in the last chapter. That is because every developed chapter is now being processed by a beta! (But still also ultimately being finalized by me so it won't be perfect; that's my fault, sorry.)

A round of applause for Paragon of Awesomeness for making sure my quality doesn't go down the crapper when exams come! I really appreciate it.

----​

Chapter 5 – Masked.

"So, what's your deal?"

Edna's voice broke the dull repetitive rhythm of the group's footsteps on dirt. Velvet blinked, turning towards the seraph staring up at her with her ever-present stoic expression carved on her face. "What?"

"You." With a slight twirl of the umbrella resting on her left shoulder, Edna elaborated. "Nobody's said anything about why there's another human coming along with us who isn't Sorey's squire." She raised an eyebrow pointedly. "Who can see seraphim, for that matter."

"Oh, that's right!"

Sorey fell into step alongside the two women plonking a fist in his palm. "Edna, we haven't introduced you two!" He realized.

"You haven't." She blandly affirmed.

High in the sky the sun shone, basking the surrounding rolling green hills and accompanying the Shepherd's group as they headed due south back towards Griflet Bridge. The pouring showers that had tormented the area had largely moved on, leaving only a few stray dark clouds occasionally peppering patches of land with a gentle sprinkle. The air was crisp and fresh, and told of new beginnings.

Grinning sheepishly, Sorey gestured to Velvet for Edna's benefit. "Well then, Edna, meet Velvet." He introduced. "She's been travelling with us for the time being."

"You don't say."

"Yeah." Completely immune to the seraph's inflectionless tone, Sorey continued explaining, "She's from a village up near Lakehaven Heights, and was born resonant. She's coming with us because she's been looking for her cousin."

"…Born resonant, huh?" Tilting her head curiously, Edna met Velvet's eyes. "Then where's your cousin?" She prompted.

Velvet shrugged. "No idea." She admitted. "All I can tell for sure is that he's nowhere near here."

"So you figured that it would be a good idea to use the Shepherd as protection in your travels as you looked for him." She hummed thoughtfully. "Not a bad idea."

Velvet's eyebrow rose. "I suppose you could say that." She allowed unaffectedly.

Surprisingly, Sorey rallied in her defense. "It's nothing like that, Edna, really." He promised, shaking his head. "Velvet's been nothing but helpful to us in our travels. She's been teaching Lailah how to cook, giving us all useful tips to make our travels easier, and she even helps us quell hellions!"

He gave Velvet an apologetic look, scratching the back of his head. "If anything, it's us who are using her." He admitted sheepishly.

A wet summer breeze blew through the air, disturbing the grass on both sides of the partially dry dirt road upon which they travelled. Mikleo and Lailah were exchanging idle conversation as they walked at the same pace in front of them, leading the group onward. Behind them, the looming figure of Spiritcrest had all but receded behind the horizon.

"…If you say so." Edna conceded to Sorey's words after a pause, her eyes carefully flitting between the eyes of the Shepherd and Velvet.

She twirled her umbrella behind her perfunctorily. "As far as humans go," she supposed, "you don't seem too bad."

Velvet gave her a look. "I'll take that as a complement."

"You should." The orange doll on Edna's umbrella twirled around as she spun it once more. "Ordinary humans are idiots who only care about themselves."

"So," Sorey asked curiously, "does that mean that you care about others then, Edna?"

He balked at the narrowed eyes he received in response. "I'll pretend you didn't just ask me that." She growled.

Gulping, Sorey nodded wordlessly, a confused expression clear on his face.

Amused, Velvet pointed out, "First Sorey, and now me." She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you don't have a bit of an unfair bias towards humanity?"

Edna gave her a dry look in response. "The only reason I consider you two humans to even be remotely bearable is because you're both extraordinarily weird. That's all."

"Weird?" Sorey blinked. "Are the two of us really that unique?"

Velvet gave him a look. "That's… a pretty accurate observation, actually."

With a satisfied smirk, Edna closed her umbrella and let it dangle in her grip as she walked. "Fighting with monsters that nobody else can see? Chatting with spirits dwelling inside of one's head? Sounds like a pair of cuckoo lunatics to me."

"You're one to talk."

Mikleo's words were defensive as he fell into step alongside them, his eyebrow raised pointedly in the earth seraph's direction. "What sort of seraph walks around with an umbrella even when it's not going to rain?"

"The same sort that would walk around with that dumb-looking face." Edna shot back easily with a smirk.

"W-what?" Mikleo sputtered, his eye twitching. "That doesn't make any sense at all!"

"Neither does your face."

"If you're going to insult someone, at least make it a coherent one." Mikleo huffed, sticking his nose up into the air.

"Okay then, Meebo." Edna opened her umbrella once more with a dry smirk. "If you're going to make snacks, at least make them edible."

"W-why you-!"

Mikleo floundered helplessly for a moment before gathering his wits, glaring angrily down at the insufferable little seraph. "…Mistakes are a necessary ingredient of becoming proficient in something." He growled lowly. "You can't just expect me to be perfect right off the bat!"

"Hm." She hummed, twirling her umbrella. "A convenient excuse." She commented off-handedly.

"It's not an excuse!"

Sorey scratched his cheek sheepishly as the two seraphim devolved once more into a bout of bickering. He gave Velvet a grin. "Next to those two, I'd say we're pretty normal by comparison."

Velvet rolled her eyes, waving a hand in the air. "Can't argue with you there."

"My, just look at them go!"

Lailah had a playful finger on her chin as she fell into step alongside Sorey opposite to Velvet, her eyes on the two seraphim exchanging verbal blows in front of them. "It's certainly gotten much more lively around here; that much is certain." She commented to the Shepherd.

Sorey gave the fire seraph a grin. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone push Mikleo's buttons so well before." He commented. "Edna seems like quite the person."

"Indeed." She bobbed her head. "Edna does seem to be having quite a lot of fun as well. I'm glad that you managed to convince her to leave Spiritcrest, Sorey. She can be quite stubborn."

Sorey nodded seriously. "Yeah." He intoned. "I'm glad as well."

The sun continued to glow high up in the sky as the group continued to make their way through the vast plains, the various conversations populating the air around them.

Velvet's eyes were on Sorey, her lips pursed.

"…Sorey," she prompted, causing his head to turn to her.

"Did you really mean it?" She inquired. "When you said you'd try and find a way to save Edna's brother?" Her mind thought back to the words that he'd said back in Spiritcrest; the ones that had so unwittingly convinced Edna into joining his group.

Sorey's expression was firm. "I meant every word."

Velvet put a hand on her hip, her eyes digging into Sorey's. "…Saying you'll do something is one thing." She pointed out, waving her other hand in the air. "Doing it is a different story." Her eyebrows narrowed. "…Anybody can make promises they can't keep."

Her skepticism was plain to both of them.

Sorey's face was sober as he lifted up his left hand wearing the ornamented white glove emblazoned with the Shepherd's emblem and clenched it into a determined fist. "…I will find a way to save Eizen." He promised softly. "Regardless of how long it might take, and how hard it might be, I refuse to believe that purifying a dragon is an impossible task. That once a seraph becomes a dragon, they are doomed to that fate forever."

Unconsciously, his eyes wandered forward, to fall on Mikleo's form. "…I just don't want to live in a world like that." He muttered as an afterthought.

Velvet studied him acutely as they walked. "…And so," she summarized, "you'll do everything you can to reshape the world into a place you do want to live in."

"…I suppose." Sorey nodded.

Velvet glanced away, deep in thought. Oh, how that exact sentiment had nearly ruined the lives of all whom had lived in this world long ago.

"But…" His head tilted upward, towards the partially cloudy blue sky, as he continued. "It all seems a little overwhelming at times, I'll admit." He let out a self-deprecating grin. "Like I've bitten off a little too much."

At his side Lailah nodded slowly. "Such a feeling is natural, Sorey." She assured softly. As Sorey's gaze fell down to meet her own, she urged, "Remember the purpose of our journey."

"To learn more of the world, right?" Velvet answered, also meeting the Shepherd's eyes with a thoughtful look. "If that's so, you should take your time." She suggested with a shrug. "I seriously doubt a person who only recently learned what money is would be able to change the world in an instant."

Sorey laughed, habitually scratching the back of his neck. "I guess Mikleo told you all about that, huh?"

Lailah held Velvet's eyes for a moment before returning her gaze to Sorey. "…She's right, Sorey." Her lips upturned into a soft, encouraging smile. "Make your own way in the world and decide what you think is best. That is all one can really do, in the end. As I said, the answers you seek are those you must discover for yourself." Her eyes were distant.

"…Answers of my own." Sorey mumbled pensively. "And only then will I be able to make a stand against the Lord of Calamity, huh?"

Velvet and Lailah were both silent.

After a pause, Sorey abruptly nodded, unconsciously squaring his shoulders and standing up straighter. "…Got it." He confirmed firmly. "Thanks, guys, for the encouragement." He gave both women a grateful look.

Velvet merely inclined her head in response, that thoughtful expression still present on her face.

Their steps continued onward through the dirt. Overhead, a stray storm cloud had made its way over, causing a light drizzle to waft lazily in the air. The land all around the group became momentarily eclipsed in a soft shadow as the cloud obscured the sunlight from the heavens.

"Stop calling me that!"

"Do you make it a habit of always telling people around you what to do, Meebo?"

Mikleo's eye twitched. "I do when they annoy me!" He yelled.

"Such a bully." Edna's smirk was almost fanged.

Velvet shut her eyes and massaged her temple with her left hand. "At this rate, every hellion for kilometers around will be charging over here if only to stop this racket." She growled irritably.

Laughing nervously, Sorey stepped in before Mikleo fell for another one of Edna's taunts. "Come on, guys." He urged impassionedly. "Knock it off."

"Yes," Lailah agreed wisely, "both of you, please do calm yourselves."

Mikleo visibly contained himself with a deep breath, shaking his head. "…She started it." He muttered sourly, glaring hatefully at the smug earth seraph.

Edna just gave him a vindictive grin in response, twirling her umbrella in the sprinkling rain.

A blessed calm fell as the group moved on, walking together through the fluttering droplets of rainwater gliding through the air. Up ahead in the distance through the fog, the familiar features of the Griflet River were slowly coming into view.

"Up ahead! Hellions!"

Mikleo's alarm call put everyone instantly on guard, adrenaline instantly pumping through their veins at the abrupt introduction of mortal danger amidst the tedium of travel. Hands fell on weapons as the group zeroed in on a pack of octopus hellions lazily encroaching upon the path at the crest of a hill ahead.

Sorey glanced back and quickly asserted the statuses of his group members before giving them all a nod. "I'm counting on you all." His gaze fell on the newest member of the group. "Edna, follow our lead, and be careful." He urged.

At Velvet's side, Edna nodded, closing her umbrella and exposing herself to the sprinkling rain.

"Alright guys, let's do this!" With Sorey's call, the group drew their weapons and charged up the hill towards the hellions. Within moments, the pack of octopi registered the invading humans and turned towards them, aggressively raising their spiked tentacles in response.

BANG!

With the might of a giant, a massive chunk of land sprouted violently from underneath one of the five hellions, sending the monster hurtling high up into the foggy air, its tentacles twirling helplessly behind it. With a loud splat, the hellion landed harshly on the ground, tumbling around with flailing limbs.

Not to be outdone, Mikleo shook his head and turned away from Edna's form, instead focusing on finishing his own arte. With a yell, he swept his free hand outward towards the hellions.

All of a sudden, a branch of innocent sprinkling rain merged together into a sharp, unnatural spear of water and hurtled downward through the air to slam into one of the hellions in an explosion of liquid force, slamming it flat onto the ground.

"Not bad for a Meebo." Was Edna's comment as she waved her umbrella, finalizing a low-power arte to harry one of the other hellions. "A Meebo with an element advantage." She snarked.

Mikleo grunted in irritation, digging his boots into the mud and running forward to fight the hellions at a closer range. "I told you to stop calling me that!"

Sorey gave him a helpless grin briefly over his shoulder as he charged forward and met the first octopus hellion head-on, dodging the monster's tentacles. "I think you might just have to get used to it, Mikleo." He grunted, rolling to the side and avoiding the tentacles flying over his head before getting to his feet and slashing to the side, smoothly slicing through the slimy skin and eliciting a squeal of agony from the hellion.

"That's what I'm afraid of!" Siding to a stop, Mikleo took the initiative and used his staff to club the head of the hellion Sorey had just struck. He leapt back with a grunt, dodging the retaliatory attack. "Lailah!" He called over to the fire seraph. "You sure there aren't any other earth seraphim nearby that we could ask for help instead of her?"

"I'm very sorry to disappoint, but unfortunately that is in fact the case." Lailah's grin said she wasn't very sorry at all as she flicked her wrist, finalizing her arte and causing one of the other hellions to burst into flames. "Velvet!" She prompted.

"Right here!" Acrobatically leaping through the air, Velvet dodged the attack of another hellion and charged up to the one that Lailah had set on fire before she fell into a cartwheel. The hidden blade inside her boot jerked out and carved a clear gash across the stunned hellion's skin. Recovering her footing, the woman leapt backward in a backflip with her arm outstretched, letting her extended gauntlet blade slash an additional wound in the body of the scorched octopus hellion in the process, leaving it fully disabled.

"Nice one!" Sorey commented, himself slashing outward and slicing his sword through the slimy skin of the octopus hellion he and Mikleo were engaging. A brilliant flash of blue preceded the casting of the sacred flame upon the wounded hellion, relegating the monster into the form of a wounded jackrabbit that immediately began to scuttle away from the chaos as quickly as it could manage.

Edna glanced briefly over at the purified rabbit before returning her attention back to the other four hellions. "Lailah!" She called. "Take the one in the back. I've got the closer one."

"Right!" With a nod, Lailah stepped up firmly alongside Edna. Together, the two seraphim raised their weapons of choice and concentrated, focusing their efforts on the distant hellion.

Meanwhile, Velvet jerked her hand, gesturing for Sorey to come to her. Nodding, the Shepherd broke into a run through the rain towards her and the fallen hellion beside Velvet. The other three hellions instantly converged upon him, their tentacles seeking to tear his clothes and rend his flesh apart.

SPLASH!

A barrage of water fell alongside him as he ran, wreaking havoc amongst the octopi and giving him leeway to arrive at Velvet's side with his sword drawn. He absently gave Mikleo a nod of thanks before turning to the fallen hellion and precisely waving his sword, purifying the monster.

Unnoticed by him, Velvet had instinctively shied away from the burst of flame, her very being reviling the heat of the purifying fire.

Shaking her head, the disguised therion moved hastily away from the Shepherd as he worked and instead pushed herself into a run towards the casting seraphim who were being defended by only Mikleo as the remaining three hellions encroached upon their position.

"Gah!" Mikleo grunted as he stumbled backwards, his boots digging in the mud as he clumsily regained his balance while keeping both hands on his staff. "Guys! Hurry up!" He yelled urgently over his shoulder.

"Quiet." Edna's face was scrunched in concentration. "Almost done."

By her side, Lailah's eyes shot open, brimming with power. "Alright!" She cried, raising a casting page in her hand. Edna's umbrella lifted in tandem as the two seraphim finalized their arte.

"NOW!" They yelled, their hair whipping around their bodies as the mana billowed with the initiation of their artes.

BANG!

CRACK!

The ground shook for miles around as an explosion and an earthquake erupted at the same time. The hellions squealed in agony as they were cast bodily in different directions, tumbling away with rocks embedded in their charred skin. The moist, foggy air momentarily became flooded with the scent of burning fish and of lingering dust.

Gasping for breath, Edna and Lailah stumbled away from the results of their artes, their hands on their knees. Edna coughed, waving her right hand in front of her face as she wafted the thick dust enshrouding her away.

Her eyes widened when she registered a tentacled silhouette directly in front of her. She let out a cry of alarm.

"EDNA!"

Velvet shouted as she lunged forward, tackling the seraph and sending them both tumbling out of the way of the hellion's attack. Right before they hit the ground, she twisted her body and let her left shoulder take the brunt of the impact, her black coat gliding through the mud as she cradled Edna protectively.

Not missing a beat, Mikleo ran up to the fallen women and finished his arte with a yell, casting a flying spike of ice to slam into the side of the hellion's head and distracting it.

Sorey, now armatized with Lailah, charged in, using his great sword to bash the monster away from his friends. With a roar, the Shepherd charged after the hellion's form, continuing the fight.

"You guys alright?" Mikleo asked worriedly as Velvet and Edna untangled themselves on the ground, absently keeping track of Sorey and Lailah's progress as they mopped up the rest of the hellions.

"We're fine." Velvet assured, pushing herself back onto her feet and extending a hand to Edna.

"That was stupid." Edna berated herself as she let Velvet pull herself up, haughtily brushing the mud off her legs and clothes.

She gave Velvet a deeply grateful look. "…Thanks for that." She gave a slight incline of her head in appreciation.

Velvet nodded, idly examining her mud-drenched clothing and bandages. "It's nothing." She jerked her head to the side. "It's Mikleo you should be thanking for distracting the hellion."

The sour look that Edna gave her in response made the therion smirk.

With a sigh, Edna turned to Mikleo reluctantly. "I guess I should thank you for that as well." Suddenly, her lips curved upward. "…Meebo." She finished wryly.

Mikleo facepalmed. "Don't make me regret helping you." He muttered sourly.

Together, the three of them turned and watched as Sorey dispelled his armatization and purified the last of the fallen hellions with a shaky sword.

"Whew!" He exhaled, turning to the rest of them as the last of the purified jackrabbits scurried off into the field. "That battle was tough!" He glanced at Edna and Velvet's mud-soaked forms in particular with worry in his eyes. "You guys alright?"

"We're fine." Edna reassured.

She glanced over at Velvet and her mud-soaked arm. "Your bandages might need replacing, though." She raised an eyebrow at the therion. "Then again, I'm not so sure why you're even wearing them at all in the first place when you can clearly use your arm regardless."

Velvet was about to answer when she registered the looks on Mikleo and Sorey's faces.

She blinked. "…What?"

The two exchanged hesitant glances before Mikleo let out a halting confession. "W-well," he stammered, "I figured early on that we shouldn't bring up your arm because you'd probably… not take it too well." Heat was crawling up the back of his neck. "S-sorry, we probably should've told Edna beforehand, so she wouldn't've asked." He mumbled respectfully.

Velvet blinked at him incredulously. "…You were really that worried about how I'd feel about it?"

Sorey grinned cheekily, explaining, "Mikleo felt kinda guilty about all his assumptions about you in the beginning when we first met." He said with a shrug. "I think it was just his way of apologizing for it. It's a very Mikleo thing to do."

"Sorey…!" Mikleo growled out of the side of his mouth, furiously embarrassed. In response, Sorey just raised both hands in surrender, a wry grin on his face.

"…I see."

Shaking her head, Velvet addressed the topic at hand. "In any case, you don't have to worry about that." She waved the bandaged arm in question. "It's a sort of disease." She explained. "I have full use of my arm, but the appearance is rather off-putting to some, so I keep it covered."

At their wide-eyed looks, she rolled her eyes. "Don't worry. It's not contagious… Much." She added with a dry smirk.

Edna dryly shouldered her opened umbrella, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at the once-more horrified expressions Sorey and Mikleo were wearing. "She's kidding." She drawled. "Idiots."

"Ahah." Sorey chuckled, scratching his nose. "Got it."

Mikleo's face had gone red. "…So…" he mumbled, "you mean to say you didn't care at all about us mentioning your arm from the start?"

Velvet shrugged, a hand on her hip. "Not one bit." She confirmed.

"Moron." Edna goaded with a satisfied smirk on her face, her umbrella shadowing her face. "What, was it some kind of idiot guy thing to assume that all girls are fragile flowers?"

Mikleo just let out a sigh in response, rubbing his temples.

Taking pity on the poor water seraph, Velvet shrugged. "I suppose the thought is what matters." She gave him a nod. "I appreciate it, for what it's worth."

Mikleo's spine seemed to straighten sharply with the expression of her gratitude.

"Y-you're welcome." He returned haltingly, turning around and putting his back to them. "Anyways, we should get going. We're almost at the bridge." He mumbled hastily, walking off.

The rest of the group exchanged glances before shrugging and following in the seraph's footsteps.

Edna was right, Velvet reflected as she walked. They were just one big band of weirdos, the lot of them.

What a familiar feeling.

High up in the sky, the stray storm cloud began to move on with the wind, leaving the land once more exposed to the brightness of the sun.

----​

"Wait a minute." Mikleo asked incredulously. "You're going to do this right away?"

Edna bounced the tip of her closed umbrella on the ground. "Don't you know what the humans will think of you?" She gestured over her shoulder at the bustling Griflet Bridge Camp framed in the golden light of the sunset. "What will happen if you demonstrate power that transcends their simple understanding right here, right now, in front of them all?"

Velvet glanced over her shoulder at all the humans in question. With the torrential rainfall having finally stopped shortly before the group had returned back to the bridge, a flurry of activity had ignited in the makeshift settlement. Yells and shouts echoed throughout the camp as merchants and builders worked together to move waterlogged building materials though deep tracts of mud. Everyone had been whipped into a flurry of activity devoted towards rebuilding the structure and towards hastening their return home to where their sick families still awaited them, along with the precious medicine they carried.

By her side, Sorey also watched the people in the camp, his jaw set. At his back, the rushing waters of the Griflet River continued to roar.

"…I know." He muttered under his breath, answering Edna's question. "I know how they'll act. Regardless," he turned to face the seraph, "it's for everyone's sake that I get this done as soon as possible… so that they don't waste time pouring effort into building foundations that we'll be constructing for them."

"You do have a point…" Lailah held a hand to her chest in worry. "Yet what of you, Sorey?"

Sorey shook his head, facing her firmly. "Don't worry about me." He gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I'll be fine."

"…Suit yourself." Edna shrugged apathetically. "Maybe you like being treated like a monster."

Velvet was silent.

Mikleo nodded, meeting Sorey's eyes seriously. "It's your call. I'll go find Alisha then. The three of you should cross the river as soon as possible once the deed is done."

Sorey nodded.

As Mikleo left, the Shepherd turned to face the task at hand. Before him, the vast expanse of the Griflet River awaited, its surging currents still fierce and strong despite the lack of rain.

"…Edna." He prompted. "Can I count on your help?"

The seraph tilted her head apathetically, the ribbons on her outfit fluttering in the breeze. "The Shepherd has the ability to command the seraphim at will, isn't that right?" She pointed out. "I'm your Sub Lord. Do whatever you want."

It was incredible how quickly Sorey turned around to face her, pure disgust on his face.

"No way." He almost growled, uncharacteristically firm in his demeanor. "You are not a tool for me to use, nor are any of the other seraphim. If you don't want to help, I'll find another way."

He shook his head impassionedly. "My dream is for humans and seraphim to coexist." He stated. "Manipulating seraphim is not what I'd call a peaceful coexistence. On the contrary, I find the very idea despicable."

At Edna's side, Lailah explained, "Sorey was brought up alongside seraphim. In fact, Mikleo has been his childhood friend ever since his birth." Her words were logical and pointed. "Naturally, he'd revile such underhanded manipulation of other simply to achieve one's personal goals, having been brought up this way."

Velvet didn't need to look over her shoulder to know that the seraph was looking directly at her.

Edna let out a mildly impressed huff, shifting on her feet and letting the tip of her unopened umbrella drop to the cobblestones of the broken bridge below. "Humans and seraphim, huh?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Then what about hellions?" She asked.

The rushing of the bridge filled the silence.

Sorey blinked in confusion. "Hellions? What about them?"

Edna shrugged, opening her umbrella and resting it upon her left shoulder. "Nothing." She dismissed casually, looking vaguely off into the distance. "Just a random thought."

The Shepherd's confusion was interrupted by a far-off cry. "Sorey!"

The group turned as one to face Princess Alisha as she jogged up to them urgently, Mikleo at her heels. "Is what Mikleo says true?" She implored as she came to a halt, catching her breath. "Have you found a way to repair the bridge using your powers?"

Sorey shook his head. "Not mine." He gestured to the newest member of the group. "Edna here's going to help us out using herpowers. She's an earth seraph, so if anyone can do this, it's her."

Alisha abruptly registered Edna's presence with surprise, horror creeping into her expression. "O-oh! Forgive my manners, Seraph Edna." She hunched forward into a sincere bow. "I deeply regret my transgression."

Edna's expression didn't change. "Yeah, you ought to."

Her free arm fell to her side as she eyed the woman disapprovingly. "And we're already on a first name basis even though we just met?" Almost habitually, her gloved right hand reached up and grabbed the orange doll hanging from her umbrella. "You're awfully rude, you know that?" She accused.

Alisha shook her head sorrowfully. "Please forgive me…"

Seeing where this was going, Velvet decided to take pity on the poor princess before Edna could torment her any further. "As Sorey was saying," she drawled, smirking at Edna's pout at being denied her fun, "'Seraph Edna' here will be using her powers to construct a foundation for the new bridge before we cross ourselves."

Getting over her shame, Alisha blinked as Velvet's words sunk in. She glanced back at Sorey and Edna in amazement. "The Shepherd can do that?"

"Do you doubt my powers?" Edna raised an indignant eyebrow.

Instantly cowed, Alisha bowed her head once more. "No, Madam Seraph… I apologize for my impudence."

Edna's smile was fanged. "If you're sorry, then do the normincarena as penance."

Alisha blinked, raising a questioning finger. "The nor… What now?"

"You don't know it?" Edna's inflectionless voice somehow managed to sound both deeply disappointed and apathetic at the same time. "How disrespectful."

The princess flinched. "Please forgive me…!"

"If you're sorry, then-"

Chuckling, Sorey prudently interrupted the redundant conversation. "Okay, that's enough." He berated lightly, a wry grin on his face.

Within moments however, the smile slid off his face as the sight of all the humans desperately working to return to their sick families across the river faced him once more. Any sign of humor instantly vanished, leaving behind a young man struggling to fill the boots of the Shepherd.

One doing absolutely everything in his power to do what he thought was right.

Alisha instantly caught onto the serious atmosphere, her right arm bending to grasp onto her left instinctively. "Wait a second, Sorey." She turned to the Shepherd. "You don't actually mean to use your powers right at this moment in front of all these people…?"

Edna waved a nonchalant hand. "He wants to make sure the other humans don't spend resources and time working on something he's making himself." She explained.

Sorey nodded. "Yeah." He confirmed. "I've decided it's the best way to help everyone."

"…If you're sure, then I won't doubt your decision." Alisha conceded.

Velvet silently spectated the interactions taking place, keenly studying Sorey's stout demeanor and resolute determination.

She was impressed.

"Well, I guess then we'd better get started." With that, Sorey turned on his heel and trotted up to the edge of the bridge, Edna at his side. "Alisha, Velvet, if any of the people come near, tell them to stay back." He called over his shoulder.

Velvet gave Sorey a slow, encouraging nod in return. "…Good luck." She wished.

Sorey nodded back, before taking a deep breath and turning to Edna. "Ready?" He prompted.

Edna closed her umbrella with a soft thunk. "Let's just hurry up and get this over with." She raised an eyebrow. "Your goal is to help the humans as quickly as possible, right?"

"…Right." With growing resolution in his eyes, the Shepherd turned to face the trial before him and raised a hand high in the air.

"Hephsin Yulind!"

A bright glow overtook the young man's form as he armatized with the earth seraph. Two massive fists of mana-infused rock floated at his sides, mimicking the movements of his arms. Bright, angelic white clashed with the fiery orange of the accents of his outfit as well as the brilliant unnatural hue of his eyes.

It was a sight that was a hauntingly familiar to Velvet. Just as the sight of Mikleo's Water Armatus had, it reminded her of a distant time when she had fought against now-ancient enemies. Enemies that had willingly sacrificed their own lives in a desperate, heroic attempt to best the ultimate enemy of their time. The one monster whose existence alone meant the suffering of countless others.

Herself.

With a rough shake of her head, she forced herself to focus on what was happening in the present rather than the past.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Within seconds, the world had devolved into one ruled by chaos and anger. The ground below her feet shook with the unmatched ferocity of an earthquake while the waters behind her splashed violently upward as jagged shards of earth forced their ways brutally through the surface. The very river itself shook and undulated with the disruptions that caused waves to form and crash harshly against the riverbank, sending water flying high into the sky.

Her gaze turned to Sorey, whom was hunched over and continually slamming his armatized fists into the earth before him, all the while forcing more and more slabs of rock to rise up into the air. Sweat streamed down his forehead as he pushed himself harder and harder, his teeth gritted hard in concentrated effort.

"Wh-what's going on?!"

Velvet turned sharply to the astonished jabbering of people before her. She and Alisha exchanged glances before facing the mixed group of soldiers, builders, and Marlinders staring at the Shepherd's form in pure, unbridled disbelief.

Behind her, the tremors continued as Sorey worked.

"People of Hyland, please!" Alisha's voice was shill and high in an attempt to override the crashing bursts of rock and water behind her. She glanced briefly behind her with wide eyes at Sorey's actions before she forced herself to focus instead on the people in front of her. "Stay back!" She cried, waving a hand. "The Shepherd is currently constructing a foundation to aid in the Griflet Bridge reconstruction effort!"

"Th-the Shepherd?!"

"He's the Shepherd?"

"My gods! He's raising boulders with nothing but his own fists!"

"T-that's c-crazy!"

"How is this even possible?!"

Velvet snuck an eye over her shoulder at Sorey as he continued to slam his fists into the ground. He could hear all of it. Every word, she knew. Every single word was like a dagger to his heart; another stark reminder of how he was different. Unnatural.

How, despite his human heritage, he was as alien to the people of this world as the seraphim were.

The shuddering of earth continued over the disbelieving muttering and jabbering of the masses. More and more people were coming to gather before the foot of the bridge; all of them collectively awestruck by the demonstration of powers beyond their imaginations. A complete contradiction to everything they had once believed their world to be.

Velvet let out a huff and turned away from the gawking crowds, having had enough.

She'd seen it all before. Despite how long it had been, it would seem that the fragile nature of humans would always be the same.

Regardless of the land nor age, the fear and revulsion of those whom are different would always exist.

Slowly, she made her way up the broken arc of the bridge over to the Shepherd as he slammed his fist on the ground one last time, heaving for breath. Behind her, the rampant murmuring and squabbling of the masses began to grow even louder in the absence of the earth-shaking blows. Standing on shaking knees, Sorey dispelled the Armatus. Edna reappeared alongside the other seraphim at the base of the bridge, similarly exhausted.

Velvet was there to catch Sorey's lone form before he toppled over into the river, steadying him with a firm grip.

"Idiot." She berated quietly under her breath as she let go of him, letting him stand on his own. "You overdid it." She accused.

"Hah… I guess I did." Sorey breathed, shaking the stars out of his head and wiping the sweat off his forehead.

The two of them stared out at the result of the Shepherd's Miracle; jagged boulders haphazardly erected from the riverbed and jutting out a few meters up from the raging waters. They would provide a solid foundation to allow for the rapid construction of a new bridge; one capable of sustaining the weight of aid wagons laden with medicine. With his efforts, he'd saved the people over a month's worth of hard work in digging foundations in the river. With his efforts, he'd helped to save their families as well.

Sorey's eyes inevitably drifted to the people in question whom he'd helped. All of them; every single one; looked back directly at him, their eyes filled with the exact emotions he'd expected to see.

Shock. Disbelief. Awe. Denial. Fear. Terror.

A terrible shiver ran up his spine as he stood there before them all. There was nothing in this world that would've prepared him for that moment, he reflected idly. Nothing that would've prepared him for the revelation. Even Alisha, his squire, had seemed perturbed by his actions.

All of them. They all looked at him as if he were something… different to them.

Inhuman, even.

All but her.

His gaze drifted to Velvet, a strange look in his eyes as he stared inquisitively at the lone, unaffected woman standing before him, a sea of fearful people directly behind her.

Interpreting his look, the woman raised a single eyebrow in response.

"If you think I'm going to act all scared of you as well," she remarked dispassionately, "I'm afraid you're setting yourself up for disappointment."

Sorey blinked.

And then, ever so slowly, a hint of the Shepherd's normal self began to seep back once more into his frozen body. With jerky, halting movements, he scratched the back of his neck out of habit, forcing his eyes away from those of the people. "…Yeah, suppose so, huh?" He agreed with a humorless chuckle.

As the seraphim began to walk up to the base of the bridge towards the two of them in the aftermath of the event, Velvet felt something come over her. The gawking people; Sorey's deeply disturbed expression; all of it drove her to open her mouth right then.

"You know," Velvet mumbled under her breath, "you should feel relieved right now."

Sorey nodded. "I am." He agreed. "Now the Marlinders will be able to build the bridge in much less time than before."

"That's not what I meant."

He blinked.

Velvet shook her head, waving a dismissive hand as the seraphim of the group approached them. "…Never mind."

"Well, that went well." Edna's voice was dry and laced with fatigue as she walked up to them alongside the other two seraphim.

Lailah glanced worriedly over her shoulder. "…Yet it would seem that none of the people are willing to continue construction with us in the way."

Sorey let out a breath, standing up straight. "That's understandable." He acknowledged.

Mikleo gestured over his shoulder. "Alisha is busy trying to calm down the masses. From the looks of things, even the local garrison was stirred up by what you just did."

"Then we should get going as soon as possible before the humans all reach peak freak-out." Edna summarized, turning to Mikleo. "Meebo. You ready?"

He nodded. "Once Alisha comes, I'll be ready to transport us across."

"Hold on a second." Sorey's jaw was firm as he took a step forward, down the bridge towards the people. "Before we go, I need to find Neif to get the medicine."

Velvet's voice was soft.

"…Are you sure you're ready for that?"

Sorey nodded firmly, not turning around. "What's important… are the people of Marlind. That's all." He reaffirmed.

It sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

And with that, the Shepherd began a slow, measured pace down towards the flock of frightened sheep. Behind, the wolf watched him go over his shoulder, an intrigued glint in her eyes.

The freshly raised array of rocky outcroppings jutting out from the surface of the Griflet River would remain there for centuries after that day; a testament to the almighty Shepherd's powers.

Proof of his inhumanity.

----​

"Agh!"

Sorey let out a yelp as he was deposited roughly onto the ground, rolling over himself in the dirt before coming to a rough halt. Blinking rapidly, the first thing he registered was the dampness of the dirt under his palms. The familiar howling of rushing water told him that he was directly beside the Griflet River. Pushing the disorientation aside with a vigorous mental effort, the Shepherd forced himself to recall what had happened as the world around him slowly stopped spinning.

The group had crossed the river with the help of Mikleo's artes along with Neif's medicine and had made some progress towards Marlind before setting camp for the night. After a light dinner, they had all fallen asleep in a safe campsite tucked away from the main road.

And then he'd been kidnapped in his sleep.

The Shepherd let out a huff exasperation, finding the ground under his feet and standing up straight, staring up into the sky.

Idly, he noted that no stars were visible; they'd been obscured by a thick blanket of malevolence. For the Shepherd was standing directly in the midst of a terrifyingly powerful hellion's domain.

His cloak rattled on his back as the howling gales of the domain whipped it left and right in erratic patterns like a pitiable flag in a hurricane. Flakes of concentrated malevolence were everywhere, constantly swirling around him like a swarm of flies on a corpse. An otherworldly hum rumbled outward from beneath his feet, rivaling the rumbling of the river beside him. The ceremonial sword hanging from his hip felt like a useless paperweight in the face of such a display of pure, inherent power.

"Y'know," Sorey began lightly, idly dusting the dirt off his cloak as he turned around, "if you wanted me to meet you away from the others like this, all you had to do was ask."

He angled his chin downward and met the fierce red eyes of the familiar hellion standing across from him parallel to the river. The Shepherd raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms and facing the masked hellion fully.

"…You don't have to keep up this façade, really." He reasoned. "I know you have motives regarding me." He shook his head. "And honestly, that's fine. I really have no problem helping you get what you want from me."

To his surprise, the hellion actually reacted to his words.

With almost hesitant movements, the monster tilted its head in a clear, wordless inquiry. Forcing himself past the shock of conversing with a hellion whom he could apparently reason with, Sorey tried to think of the best way to communicate his intentions.

He abruptly chuckled at the absurdity of the situation, scratching his cheek sheepishly. "…That must sound pretty bad to you, coming from a Shepherd, huh?" He muttered, shaking his head wryly. "I guess… it's just a hunch I had about you."

He gave the hellion a lopsided, honest nod. "I've only recently been coming to terms with how strange and wondrous this world can be." He explained softly. "Seraphim… shepherds… dragons… All of them. Legends whose validity I've confirmed through no more than the means of my own two eyes. And… I had a thought the other night." He took a gentle step forward, gesturing towards the hellion.

"Why should hellions be any different?"

His eyes were honest as he gazed at the emotionless masked monster before him. "…Your actions so far speak louder than anything you could've possibly said to me."

He thought back to everything he knew about it. It's lack of murderous intent. It's distinctly intelligent movements. It's actions in following him in particular.

"…And in the end," Sorey continued slowly, "there was only one reason I could come up with to explain them." He shifted on his feet, his eyes narrowing.

"You… you want to… teach me, don't you?" He asked softly. "You want to teach me… how to fight…?"

It sounded so absurd. Sorey knew that if he had brought it up with the others, they'd dismiss the idea in an instant, then berate him for even entertaining the idea in the first place. Mikleo in particular. And they would be right to do so. There was absolutely no good reason for him to believe in such an outrageous conclusion. And yet, something deep inside Sorey told him otherwise. His instincts told him that this hellion… this hellion was different, somehow. That this hellion was following him for a reason. A reason bereft of malice.

He crossed his arms firmly and faced off against the hellion, awaiting its response.

The rushing of the Griflet River permeated the cold, chilly night air in the silence that followed. All around them, the hellion's extraordinarily powerful domain continued to swirl in the darkness; a silent spectator to the encounter between light and dark.

And then slowly, almost hesitantly, the monster gave a nearly imperceptible nod of confirmation.

"Ah! I knew it!"

Sorey's face broke into a wide, satisfied smile at the realization that he'd been right. He stepped forward, decisively popping his right fist on his left palm. "Then that settles it." He declared firmly.

With a wave, he gestured at his surroundings. "From now on, I'll try to come out at night whenever I can find a chance to slip away from everyone else and meet up with you." He gave a noncommittal shrug. "Or whatever works for you, really. Just do something to let me know one way or another, and I'll come whenever I get the chance." He promised.

He grinned weakly. "I hope you'll take it easier on me from now on, though." He wished half-heartedly. "With all this travelling we've been doing, the lack of sleep might raise some questions from the others." He let out a wry shrug. "But now that I think of it, you're so strong that you'll probably beat the snot out of me regardless of whether you're going easy or not." He chuckled. "I guess it can't be helped." It might've been his imagination, but it honestly looked as if the eyes of the hellion were almost disbelieving at his words.

He blinked, abruptly remembering something.

With measured, fearless steps, the Shepherd calmly trotted up to the motionless hellion emitting thick, overwhelmingly powerful waves of malevolence. He ignored his instincts that were screaming at him to run away from such corruption, and instead forced himself to come to a stop a mere arm's reach away from it.

And, without further delay, he raised his empty right hand and offered it to the evil creature.

"We should start over." He proposed gently, smiling honestly at the stoic mask before him. "I'm Sorey the Shepherd. Nice to meet you."

All around them, the malevolence continued to swirl.

The hellion remained as still as a statue, but his proffered hand didn't waver. "I really don't understand your motives at all." Sorey admitted openly. "I honestly can't fathom why you're following me, or why you feel the need to try and teach me how to fight of all things. I mean, for one, you're a hellion; beings who, from my experience, don't tend to be very pleasant."

He shrugged. "But from the looks of things," he figured, "you don't mean me or any of my friends any harm." He gave a small yet earnest smile. "So, if that's the case, I'm happy to help you with whatever you need." He held the gaze of the malicious red eyes firmly. "I promise I'll do everything I can to keep this up. Does that sound alright to you?"

His hand continued to hover in the space between the two of them, unwavering and determined. A symbol of friendship freely offered by the world's savior to a monster.

It just felt like the right thing to do.

Then, without warning, the hellion tensed its legs and leapt inhumanly high into the air, vanishing amidst the darkness brought about by its own domain.

Sorey blinked in surprise, his offered hand falling to his side as he glanced left and right, vainly seeking for a hint of the hellion that had disappeared into thin air. All around him, the remnants of the powerful monster's domain began to dissipate; ribbons of malevolence slowly fading out of existence.

In the tranquil, malevolence-free night, a quiet smile softly appeared on his face.

"I guess I'll take that as a yes." He remarked, scratching the back of his head habitually. "I guess if he's following me," he supposed, "there's no need to really rush anything."

He abruptly let out a sigh, looking around his surroundings in the aftermath of the encounter, his thoughts shifting away from the enigmatic hellion and to his current situation. "…Now the real question is," he mumbled under his breath, "just where the heck am I?" Shaking his head helplessly, he pulled out his copy of the Celestial Record and began the tedious process of determining his location from the rough maps and sketches he'd been working on.

Far away, from a distant tree line, Velvet watched with crossed arms as the Shepherd eventually decided on a direction and began walking, snapping his copy of the Celestial Record shut.

Her right index finger tapped her left bicep in irregular, agitated intervals.

"…Naïve idiot." She muttered under her breath, utterly in disbelief at how trusting the moron had been with her after she'd attacked both him and even his friends. What kind of person would trust a monster like her? Especially when said person's only prior experiences with other monsters had all lead to violence? That sort of idiotic fairy-tale optimism of his would get him killed one day; there was no doubt about that.

She blinked when she belatedly realized that, despite herself, a small, amused smirk had crept onto her face.

She let out a disbelieving scoff and shook her head, forcing her thoughts back on track.

With one last shake of her head and a firm mental reminder of her goals, Velvet gathered herself and took off into the night where she proceeded to doggedly follow Sorey's tracks as he made his way back to camp, intending to slip silently back into the group before he returned; with Lailah's help, naturally.

In the dead silence of the night that followed, the Griflet River flowed at a loud but measured pace in stark contrast to the raging currents that had been caused by the pouring rain. Its deep, obscure waters ran endlessly into the night, moving ceaselessly onward towards distant lands.

----​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 6 – Similarities.

"…She's scary." Sorey whispered under his breath, while at the same time making sure to stay keenly focused at the task at hand as if his life depended on it. "Like, really scary."

"'Really scary?'" Kneeling at his side, Mikleo felt a shiver run up his spine as he sensed the woman's eyes drilling into the back of his head. "That's putting it lightly! She's terrifying!" He hissed back, his heart pounding uncontrollably in his chest as he hurriedly shoved a pot into his pack.

"Do you think maybe she might just be… overreacting, like, just a bit?" Sorey supposed weakly, gingerly easing a pack of valuable gels into a side pouch of his own travel pack.

Mikleo shot him a look before quickly returning to his current task. "This is all your fault." He muttered resentfully, carefully arranging cutlery together in a neat pack.

"How is all this my fault?!" Sorey hissed back incredulously, in the process of neatly folding all his clothes.

"If you hadn't shoved all your stuff into our pack willy-nilly, this whole thing wouldn't've happened." The water seraph grumbled, bundling up a few rags together in his hands.

"You can't blame me for that!" The Shepherd hissed indignantly. "Besides, don't pretend you did any better than me! You're in this mess too for a reason!"

"Both of you."

The two of them froze at the chilling voice that had come from behind their backs. Looming over their shoulders, Velvet Davidson's eyes narrowed.

"Move." She snarled lowly.

"Y-yes ma'am!" "Right away!"

The two of them chorused hurriedly before returning to their work with crazed fervor, scrambling around like whipped dogs in an effort to re-pack their travel bags in a manner that would appease their vindictive overseer. As they scampered around shoving various travel items back into their packs – neatly and carefully, lest they incur the wrath of their taskmistress – Velvet tracked their movements with narrowed eyes, her boots planted firmly on the ground and her arms crossed harshly across her chest. A safe distance away from the fiasco, Edna watched on with an amused smirk, while Lailah and Alisha exchanged worried glances.

It had all started so innocuously.

It was a hot, hot day; the group was once more alone on the road, travelling towards Marlind in the heat by following a winding path through a light forest. Cicadas blared loudly in tandem throughout the trees, their squealing pitch grating on the group's ears. The spotty, inadequate shadows of the tree cover above their heads did next to nothing to shield them from the waves of heat emanating from the afternoon sun hanging directly above their heads. All the group could do was to keep on putting one foot in front of the other.

That was what the group had been doing, that is, moments before an apple had fallen out of Sorey's pack.

The Shepherd had paused at the sound of the fruit falling on the dirt behind him, turned around and stooped down to pick it up and blow the dirt off the skin, and then shoved it once more into his pack before resuming his pace.

Then Velvet had descended upon him.

"If you take one more step," she had growled over his shoulder, "I will personally see to it that you'll be walking bow-legged for the next five hours. Minimum." Pointedly, the woman had noisily tapped her steel-toed boot on the dirt.

Needless to say, Sorey froze on the spot. "H-huh?" He had stammered, turning around and facing the suddenly terrifying scowl of the woman with wide, confused eyes. "W-what do you mean, Velvet?"

The woman had simply pointed over his shoulder at his pack. "Your pack." She had pointed out. "Dump it on the ground. Now." She had demanded.

"What? Why?"

Mikleo had trotted over at this time, eyebrows raised in confusion. "Is there a reason why you're telling him to do that?" He'd asked, coming to the defense of his friend.

He'd instantly regretted that decision as Velvet lasered in on him as well with narrowed eyes. "You too."

The seraph blinked. "Huh?"

"Do it. Before I bash your knuckleheads together." She'd growled lowly, a dangerous edge creeping into her voice. "Do not make me repeat myself."

Gulping, both boys had exchanged glances and hesitantly complied, turning out their packs and gingerly dumping their contents onto the earth.

Once they had done so, Velvet had let out a vicious growl, eliciting a flinch from both of them. "…The hell is this?" She'd asked in a deceptively calm voice, her eyes rising from the pile of stuff on the ground to glare at the two culprits while her hands slowly curled up into fists. "Explain yourselves."

Meanwhile, the rest of the group had caught up with the rest of them, confused expressions of their face as they took in the three of them stopped in the middle of the path.

Sorey had blinked innocently, glancing helplessly at the rest of the group hoping for some semblance of salvation from any of them. When none came, he was forced to look Velvet in the eye and point out lamely, "It's… It's just our stuff?"

"Then tell me why…" Velvet had growled, her anger visibly peaking as the dam broke, "…the gels were in the bottom of your packs?" The woman had advanced aggressively towards them, a motion that had both boys scrambling a few steps backwards as if an unstoppable, rampaging monster was coming at them. "Tell me, why there was packed fruit bouncing around unorganized and unwrapped?" She had demanded. "Do you have any idea how unsanitary and wasteful that is?"

She had shaken her head in disbelief, jerking her hand at Mikleo's pile. "And why was that pot at the top of your equipment? What possible rationale could you have for having that be the most accessible article of your equipment?" She had taken another harsh step forward, jerking her right arm at Sorey's pile. "And why were all of your clothes unfolded? Do you not give a damn about space management? The hell kind of a Shepherd can save the people if he can't even save his own clothing from getting wrinkled?!"

Velvet's tirade hadn't stopped. Each harsh verbal blow had been accompanied by an aggressive step forward, causing the two terrified, wide-eyed boys to stumble backwards in self-preservation as the woman laid into them with all the fury of an enraged wild beast that would be sated only by the taste of their freshly spilled blood.

"Even my cousin is neater than you two slobs." She'd snarled. "Now, get on your knees this instant and reorganize your things properly with the care and respect that is expected of two grown adults before I kick you both into next week!" Her eyes had narrowed dangerously, snapping between the two animals of prey cowering before her.

"A-ah, s-sure!" Sorey had stammered. "We w-will!"

Mikleo had glanced at Sorey in surprise, before realizing that complying with the beast's demands would be the least painful way to appease it. "Y-yeah!" He'd abruptly agreed, hastily bobbing his head in compliance. "Not a p-problem."

As the two boys had scrambled around Velvet's rage-emanating form to return to their packs and began carefully repacking their stuff in a more sensible manner, Lailah, watching the entire spectacle unfold, had placed both hands on her cheeks in morbid amusement. "…Oh dear." She'd commented. "I suppose the task of teaching those two the value of proper organization had to fall to someone at some point."

Alisha had put a hand on her mouth, clearly torn between feeling amusement and horror. "I… I suppose learning to be orderly is part of the experience of growing into the role of a responsible adult… but…"

WHACK!

She had winced as Velvet smartly whacked the back of Mikleo's head for trying to put his more fragile tools at the bottom of his pack. "…Does she have to be so heavy-handed about it?" She'd asked helplessly.

At her side, Edna had had an extraordinarily satisfied smirk on her face as she twirled her umbrella for a single revolution. "They won't forget this lesson anytime soon, that's for sure." She'd pointed out smugly.

"…But even so." Alisha had shaken her head sadly, holding her fist up to her chest. "Oh, Sorey, Mikleo." She'd wished softly. "…Be strong, both of you."

Edna had shot the princess a wry look. "If you feel she's being too hard on them," she had pointed out, "you could always go over there and rescue them."

"A-ah. Well…" Alisha had winced visibly in response. "While I would… normally do that, Velvet does… raise a good point in this particular instance." She then had managed to shake herself and put on a stoic front. "…But make no mistake." She had promised, holding a determined fist to her chest. "If I feel that Velvet is taking things too far, I will intervene. I promise you that."

"Oh?" Edna had tilted her head wryly, a sardonic smile spreading on her face. "Even if doing so meant being on the receiving end of her anger?" She'd drawled.

"Wrong!"

Right on cue, Velvet had yelled out and had unleashed a vicious kick to Sorey's ankle for not folding his clothes properly, causing the poor young man to topple over to the side in agony. His cry of pure misery had resounded throughout the forest for miles around.

Alisha had winced. "Of… of course I would." She'd mumbled, utterly unconvincingly.

And that brought the group to the present, where the two young men continued to frantically shove things into their packs under the hawk-like gaze of the hardened woman overseeing their efforts.

With one last hurried check to ensure he hadn't forgotten anything, Sorey got up and lifted his opened travel pack, displaying it to Velvet with a shaky grin. "That… That look alright, Velvet?" He tried meekly.

He let out an involuntary yelp as the woman proceeded to snatch the pack from him, looking over the contents with experienced eyes. With a grunt, Velvet abruptly shoved the pack back into Sorey's arms, causing him to stumble back a few steps in surprise. He blinked, glancing up at her, nervously awaiting judgement. In response, she waved a hand.

"…Keep it that way." She ordered shortly.

Nodding fervently, Sorey hurriedly tied the pack up and shouldered it, backing off from the woman as quickly as possible. "I-I will! Thanks, Velvet!" And just like that, he trotted off, eager to get as much distance away from the positively terrifying woman as possible.

Velvet turned her gaze over to Mikleo's sweating form. "You too." She all but growled.

Belatedly registering that he was also off the hook, Mikleo's spine stiffened as he nodded hastily. "N-not a problem. T-thanks." Just like that, he took off as quickly as Sorey had done, shouldering his pack once more.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Velvet began walking once more. She paused, turning to the side and finding all three of the other women of the group staring back at her.

"…What?" She raised an eyebrow.

"O-oh!" Alisha shook herself. "I apologize for staring!" She fell into a hurried trot past Velvet, aiming to catch up with the men as soon as possible.

Edna trotted up alongside Velvet as the group jointly resumed their pace down the road. "…Nice one." She commented offhandedly, a smug grin on her face. "Those two morons needed that lecture."

Rubbing her temple in exasperation, the therion let out a grunt. "Nothing gets on my nerves more than idiotic tendencies like theirs. Honestly, how they even managed to make it this far is beyond me."

"That makes two of us." Edna agreed dryly, gently opening her umbrella and using the canvas as a shield from the sun high up above as she walked.

The buzzing of cicadas continued in the infernal heat as the assorted personalities that made up the Shepherd's group trotted through the sparse shadows of the light forest. Sweat-drenched clothing stuck to their backs underneath their heavy travel packs and irritated their skin. Every mechanical step taken was another taken under the burning hot sun and through the dense humid air.

Suddenly, a rare breeze came out of nowhere and blew through the trees, disturbing the leaves above in a chorus of soft rustling.

Velvet felt a welcome shiver run up her spine as the cool breeze wafted over her sweat-drenched skin and chilling her overheating body. With perfunctory movements, she pushed a few wet strands of hair out of her face with her bandaged hand and continued walking with her eyes naturally shifting from side to side, taking in her surroundings with systematic efficiency.

Ahead of her some ways up the path, Sorey and Mikleo had evidently recovered from her psychological assault on their way of life and had shifted to a different topic of conversation as they walked. Alisha had caught up to them and had fallen in step with them, chatting animatedly with a smile on her face. Mikleo seemed to be arguing with her in good faith, gesturing to help convey whatever his point was. Between the two of them, Sorey had that familiar wry grin on his face as he supported one side or the other.

"They really are a happy bunch, aren't they?"

Velvet blinked and glanced over at the earth seraph trotting alongside her. "Looks like it." She agreed, returning her gaze to the Shepherd and his friends. "And that's good. The more people he has supporting him, the more likely he'll be to succeed in the end."

Edna raised an eyebrow, her eyes firmly on Velvet's form. "…You sure you know what you're doing here, Velvet?" She asked pointedly, tilting her head towards Sorey. "What you're doing with him? A big bad hellion like you trailing after his innocent little footsteps and scaring him into folding his clothes properly?"

"Oh, I'm sure." Velvet confirmed offhandedly, absently glancing off to the side and watching the trees as they slipped by. "Like I said, the more people he has supporting him, the better." She waved an uncaring hand in the air. "That's all there is to it."

"You know they won't see it that way." Edna pointed out. "If they ever found out, they'd kick you out in an instant."

The therion gave her a look. "What makes you think I care?"

Edna shrugged in response, twirling her umbrella. "Right." She remarked dryly. "The daemon that gets what she wants, was it?"

Velvet let out an amused huff. "Now you're getting it." She shook her head. "Regardless, I don't plan on them finding out anytime soon."

Edna hummed thoughtfully, idly waving a hand through the hot air and swatting a buzzing fly away from her face. "Well," she concluded dryly, "I don't see those two idiots wizening up to it anytime soon."

"That makes two of us." Velvet agreed dryly.

She abruptly turned her head to the side, watching as Lailah increased her stride to catch up with the two of them, walking alongside Edna with a serious expression on her face. Her eyes met Velvet's after glancing down at her friend.

"Velvet, did you…?"

"Before you ask," Edna interrupted, "yes, I'm well aware of who she really is."

Lailah blinked, glancing between Velvet and Edna in surprise. "…Truly?" She asked in apparent disbelief.

Velvet waved a hand in the air dryly. "…Yeah." She agreed conversationally. "And now, I'm going to have to eat her since she knows my true identity."

"Hm." Edna rotated her umbrella in a slow, partial revolution as she walked, her eyes fixed on a vague point in the distance. "Then you should know I don't taste good." She pointed out.

"Is that so?" Velvet's brows furrowed in thought. "…Then maybe I should tenderize and cook you first?" She proposed. "Seraph meat might go well in a stew, but I'll admit I've never tried it."

"You know what they say." Edna pointed out apathetically. "There's a first for everything."

"Fair enough." The therion nodded seriously without ever breaking stride. "Then Edna Stew for dinner it is.

"Oh, stop it you two." Lailah admonished in exasperation before blinking, catching herself in surprise.

Edna gave the Prime Lord a smug look in response. "There. See how easy that was?"

"…What do you mean?" Lailah tilted her head in confusion.

Closing her umbrella and exposing her head to the sun, Edna waved her umbrella towards the therion strutting alongside her. "You don't have to be so worried about Velvet all the time, Lailah." She assured genuinely. "I've seen the way you act around her. She's not going to eat us in our sleep."

Velvet gave an amused huff at the very thought, putting a hand on her hip. "Not yet, anyways." She remarked dryly, putting a thoughtful finger on her chin. "But now that you've mentioned it, Edna Stew sounds quite appealing." She remarked with a slight grin.

Lailah blinked, glancing at the hellion in question before looking back at Edna, slowly piecing together the implications of her words. "Then does that mean… Edna, you know Velvet?" She asked incredulously.

The doll on Edna's umbrella flew around in a wide circle as she twirled the object around once more. "My brother did." Her voice had taken on a soft tone.

Lailah turned to Velvet. "Is this true?"

"…Yeah. I knew Eizen." The therion affirmed, a distant look in her eyes. "He's… changed a lot since the last time I saw him, though."

Edna grunted. "That's an understatement." She let out shortly, looking away.

The brief flash of worry in Velvet's expression as she sent Edna a quick glance was not lost on Lailah. The fire seraph pursed her lips, her eyebrows furrowed as she silently put the pieces together.

"…I see." She breathed, looking away in deep thought.

Their steps in the dirt filled the silence that followed. All around the three of them, the cicadas continued to blare unceasingly into the humid summer air. The ever-present sun maintained its perch high up above their heads, beaming down through the branches and baking the ground below. Up ahead, a burst of laughter erupted from the young Shepherd and his friends, their bodies bending over in humor.

Velvet found a dry half-smile on her face as she watched Sorey and Mikleo devolve into a poking fight once more. At their side, Alisha spectated their match, a gloved hand covering her smile as she giggled at their antics. Their yelps and laughing shouts filled the air and accompanied the bright warbling of cicadas.

"When the fate of the world rests upon your shoulders..." Velvet found herself murmuring, "…the support of friends means everything. I know, because Eizen was one such friend to me."

Edna nodded quietly. "It's safe to say he felt the same way."

Velvet glanced at her and hesitantly opened her mouth. "Edna, if you don't mind me asking-"

"How did it happen?" Edna finished her question for her, looking away.

"…Yeah."

The earth seraph slowly reopened her umbrella and once more laid its stem on her shoulder, hiding her face from the sun. She let out a short sigh. "The idiot never told me. He never said a word about it, but I knew something was wrong." She twirled her umbrella absently. "There was just something about the way he wrote every letter that screamed, 'I know my days are numbered, so here's everything I want to say.'"

She rolled her eyes in disgust. "I'm sure he knew that I was onto him, but he refused to say anything about it. To him, all he wanted to do was to exchange a few more letters before he…" She exhaled harshly, closing her eyes for a moment before collecting herself.

"…When did it happen?" Velvet asked quietly. She glanced briefly at Lailah's sober expression. "It wasn't that long ago, was it?"

"No." Edna confirmed shortly. "It wasn't."

Lailah decided to speak up. "The last I saw of you Edna, long ago," she observed seriously, "Spiritcrest was still your home, as it had been for centuries. You mentioned your brother in passing, but never anything of this variety…" She trailed off.

The earth seraph let out a blasé shrug, strolling out in front of the two of them, her back to them. "Back then, I was still getting the letters." Her eyes began staring off into the distance, unseeing.

"…But then, at some point, they just stopped coming."

The footsteps of the group continued in the silence. Behind Edna's back, Velvet and Lailah shared a genuinely worried look together.

"So… then the dragon…?" Lailah prompted softly.

"I guess one day Eizen just had enough." Velvet conjectured slowly. "…And he decided to visit his little sister once more."

Lailah gave her an incredulous, horrified look.

"You're not too far off." Edna's words were bland as she twirled the umbrella, shielding her face from them. "The only reason I can think why he chose to fly back to Spiritcrest is that since I was always in his thoughts, when he turned, his warped brain thought only to come back to the mountains… to come back to me."

"What he always wanted to do." Velvet mumbled soberly.

Edna glanced over her shoulder at her, turning the umbrella to reveal her stoic face. "I guess."

"Then, Edna, the dragon-!" Lailah gasped, holding a hand over her mouth. "You mentioned something about your words… reaching him?!"

"Yeah." Edna confirmed, slowing her pace and falling once more instep with them. "When he first arrived, I thought for sure he was going to sample some Sister Stew right then and there." She sent a humorless smirk towards Velvet. "…But then he stopped, his open maw inches away from my face."

"…Then even as a dragon," Velvet observed quietly, "Eizen knew not to harm his beloved sister."

The therion tilted her head up and glanced unseeingly into the sky beyond the branches and leaves, letting out an empty laugh. "Yeah, that sounds just like him." She remarked. "In all the time I knew Eizen, nothing anyone said or did ever seemed to be able to stop that knucklehead once he had made up his mind about something."

"Yep." Edna's voice was resigned.

"…After that," the earth seraph continued, "the dragon my brother had become decided to make his nest up in the mountains. He still had enough of himself left inside him to remember not to harm me, but that was all there was. Nothing ever stopped him from taking over the mountains and killing anything that came near it."

"So goes the tale of the dreaded Rayfalke Spiritcrest." Velvet summarized somberly.

Lailah shook her head softly in disbelief. "Then no wonder the humans at Griflet warned us against going there." She cradled her hands together in front of her. "…Edna, I'm so sorry." She sympathized softly.

"Why?" Edna gave her a look. "It's not your fault."

"Even still." Lailah reaffirmed, leaning in and giving Edna a gentle, firm hug. "I can't imagine what you're going through."

Edna had tilted to the side along with the fire seraph's hug, her expression stiff and apathetic. "Wow. Touching and feeling is such an ordeal."

Lailah frowned, releasing the blasé seraph with a sigh. "You know what I mean." She accused disapprovingly.

"Still," Velvet spoke up, "I wouldn't feel too bad." She gestured to their front. "Sorey's promised to save Eizen, after all." She reminded.

Edna just gave a light huff in response. "And do you believe him?"

"That I can't say." The therion admitted, waving a hand in the air. "But if there is one thing in common between Eizen and Sorey…" She let out a huff and shook her head. "It would probably be their inborn tendency to attempt to warp what is physically possible through the sheer thickness of their skulls."

Lailah abruptly burst into stifled giggles at the statement, shielding her mouth from view.

Meanwhile, a dry grin had grown on Edna's face. "…Sounds about right." She twirled her umbrella around once more.

Lailah caught ahold of herself and smiled at the two of them. "Well, we'll just have to see the extent of Sorey's power, then, won't we?"

"Hm." Velvet let out an amused huff, idly readjusting the straps of her gauntlet blade on her right wrist. "…That we will." She intoned ominously.

Lailah gave her a gauging look. "…If that's the case," she summarized seriously, "then I can only hope that Sorey will eventually meet your standards as Shepherd, Lord of Calamity."

"You should." Velvet returned evenly, looking ahead into the distance.

Edna gave the two of them dry looks and sighed. "Forget about Sorey's thick-headedness. Nothing in the world beats the stubbornness of Ms. Evil Eyes over here."

Velvet let out a soft chuckle in response. "Well, I won't deny it."

"…Especially when it comes to organizing packs, I assume." Lailah remarked with an amused finger held to her mouth.

At the reminder, the therion held a hand up to her temple in exasperation.

"Oh yeah. That reminds me." She narrowed her eyes directly at the fire seraph, a threatening scowl on her face. "If you keep on condoning Sorey's pathetic excuse for how he folds his clothes, I'll eat both of you alive on the spot." She growled.

Lailah could only blink uncomprehendingly in response, completely lost as to how to respond to the left-field threat.

Edna turned a deadpan stare on Velvet. "You're not helping your case, you know."

The therion waved her bandaged hand uncaringly. "I just thought I'd let her know what my 'standards' are. I have to be a good Lord of Calamity, after all."

Edna's dry deadpan didn't change.

Abruptly, Lailah shook her head in exasperation, a confused smile on her face. "I honestly still don't understand you, Velvet Crowe." She openly admitted.

Her eyes met Velvet's firmly.

"And yet… It seems like I'm starting to." She observed.

"Good." Edna commented offhandedly. "Now you can stop tensing up like a frightened mouse every time she comes near you."

Lailah blinked in surprise. "Oh. I've been doing that?"

"I'm a hellion, remember?" Velvet pointed out in the fire seraph's defense. "One that's capable of expelling enough malevolence to lay waste to an entire town. It's only natural that seraphim dislike being near me." She raised an eyebrow at Edna. "I'm amazed that you're this comfortable around me in the first place, to be honest."

In response, the earth seraph just gave her a dry look. "Dragon. Remember?"

"…Right." Velvet closed her eyes. "How could I forget."

By their side, Lailah walked quietly along with a thoughtful expression.

All around them, the trees slowly rescinded as the group made their way out of the forest and into the open plains. Sparse shadows of branches and leaves became replaced with a blanket of boiling sunlight beaming down upon the grass-filled world as far as the eye could see.

"Hey, you guys!"

Sorey's cry drew their attention to where the Shepherd was standing, at the top of a hill up ahead, excitedly waving at them. "Marlind's in sight! We just need to keep on going a little longer!" With that being said, he turned back to Mikleo and Alisha and the three of them broke into a hurried trot down the hill.

Velvet exhaled in exasperation. "I have no idea how anyone in the world can maintain that level of energy."

Lailah bobbed her head with a soft smile. "Indeed, that's just how Sorey is."

"Come on." Edna waved a hand in the air. "They're gonna leave us behind at this rate."

Rolling her eyes, Velvet nodded. "Alright. Then let's go."

Together, the two seraphim and single hellion fell into a hurried trot down the path and through the heat. Behind them, the warbling of the cicadas slowly faded away as the three of them moved forward away from the forest; onward, towards the uncertain future.

----​

The night reeked of sickness.

Shielded from the heavens by the mighty branches of a massive tree sprawled the vast, subdued town of Marlind; the City of the Great Tree. A wondrous town of knowledge nestled amongst holy trees whose branches were as a beacon unto the fruit of knowledge and the flower of aesthetics. A place no true scholar nor artist did not once frolic in.

At least, that was what it had been.

With the majority of the town's residents having been rendered bedridden, silence reigned supreme in the empty streets. Quiet, silent houses stood vigil alongside the path; their windows shuttered and closed tightly in a vain attempt to hide from the darkness haunting the community. Street lanterns dotted sporadically alongside the major town thoroughfares flickered meekly in the heavy darkness blanketing the night. Somewhere in the distance, a single wolf howled eerily into the darkened sky.

It felt like nothing short of a ghost town.

The crunching of steel on gravel gently dissuaded the silence of the night as a solitary figure quietly made her way through the emptied major pathway of the village. With her flowing black jacket and her loosely tied hair gliding behind her, her form resembled a specter in the night; one completely at ease in the overwhelming atmosphere of malevolence suffocating the surrounding world.

Velvet's lips pursed as she walked, her eyes actively scanning her surroundings in perfunctory readiness as she traversed the quiet plague town. The chains on her outfit clinked in a repetitive pattern as she maintained her steady yet aimless trot down the road, idly considering the events that had transpired earlier in the day.

The Shepherd's group had arrived at Marlind and had been positively horrified to discover the true extent of the townsfolk's' suffering. A thick, putrid cloud of malevolence blanketed the entire town, systematically inducing widespread illnesses across the people. Men, women, and children alike were seen stumbling through the hazy day-lit pathways, choking on persistent hacking coughs as they meekly made their way from one destination to another. The few fortunate souls whom had not yet been engulfed by the hellionized pathogen had ran about with dull, hopeless eyes, trying in vain to give some modicum of comfort to the sick.

The sight that had been presented at the local sanctuary had been even worse. The dead had already begun piling up, as had been evidenced by the morbid sight of arrayed human forms underneath far too many ghostly white sheets in the courtyard. Inside the place of supposed worship, those on death's door had taken up residence, able only to suffer with wheezing breaths and uncontrollable coughing fits.

All of this chaos that had been induced by a single corrupted being.

Velvet came to a slow stop in the middle of a section of path whose street lamps had flickered out in the night breeze and looked up into the night sky with hardened eyes. Her daemon-enhanced vision let her make out the ever-present form of the young dragon constantly circling around the Great Tree of Marlind like a vulture patiently biding its time before some pour soul died. The monster flourished from the malevolence induced by the suffering of the humans below.

Her eyes narrowed as she tracked the insufferable beast's movements. It continued to glide through the night sky stained purple by malevolence, silhouetting itself as it passed over the warped, ominous shape of the bronze moon. The haunting presence that none of the humans could see; a great obstacle for the Shepherd's group to overcome.

The Shepherd's group. She had no right to interfere.

With a shake of her head, the former Lord of Calamity wrenched her gaze away from the monster above and resumed her night time walk through the dark, unlit pathway. There was still plenty of time until sunrise; plenty of time for her to get her thoughts in order before the group woke up back in the inn.

Suddenly, she froze.

"A-AAH! S-stay back, pooch! B-bad dog!"

The panicked, scratchy voice was accompanied by the vicious snarling of a rabid animal, coming from a place not far from Velvet's position. Without hesitating, the woman broke into a run through the unlit streets and towards the sounds. The moment she rounded the corner, her eyes took in the scene in an instant.

An old man stood with his back pressed up against a street lamp, his trembling, wrinkled hands held out in front of him in a pathetic attempt to ward off his attacker; a snarling, rabid dog slowly closing in on its prey. Another local animal that had fallen prey to malevolence.

Snarling, the hellion pounced upon its prey, its brilliant, harsh red eyes out for blood. The old man cried out in wordless terror, his eyes wide in horror.

"DEVOUR!"

And then out from the darkness came a nightmarish sight. A massive, inhuman claw tore its way harshly through the air, accented with glistening red serrations and engulfed with pulsating, dripping malevolence. The wolf hellion stood no chance as the swiping claw intercepted it mid-flight, slamming into its head and left flank and completely redirecting its velocity.

CRASH!

The monster tumbled over itself in the gravel, yipping in agony as the sharp rocks stuck to its freshly carved wounds on its fur; residual claw marks inflicted by the appendage that had eaten parts of its skin away in an instant. Driven by adrenaline and instinct, the rabid monster struggled to its limbs, gasping for breath.

Only to be push once more into the dirt as the relentless claw slammed onto its head and pinned it down. Velvet's eyes were harsh and cold as she gave the prey squirming helplessly in her grasp a quick once-over.

Almost out of instinct, she began to devour the hellion.

Her claw came alive at her will. Its skin began to writhe and pulsate, a grotesquely familiar gulping sound filling the air as the appendage leeched the life out of the hellion. Malevolence, skin, and blood; all of it was food to the therion. The wolf gave a pathetic whine of protest as the merciless therion consumed it; its life leaving it by the second. It knew it was not long for this world.

And then a hand fell on her shoulder.

"N-no, don't. Please, miss."

Velvet blinked. Her surprise was so great that she abruptly let go of the hellion, cutting off her daemon claw from its sustenance. She ignored the yearning in her body to resume eating and instead turned fully to face the old man whom had walked up to her and put his hand on his shoulder. To a regular non-resonant human, she could only imagine what her actions had looked like; bashing a rabid dog to the side with only a bandaged arm as well as using that same arm to then crush its head. In retrospect, her actions hadn't been very subtle. Yet they had been necessary to save his life.

The old man's shaken yet stout expression stared resolutely back at her as he shook his head meaningfully, gesturing at the injured hellion behind her. "Please." He repeated, the tremor in his voice becoming less and less defined. "Let the pooch go."

Finding her words, Velvet glanced over her shoulder at the wounded hellion lying there on the ground on the brink of death. "…He attacked you, didn't he?" She asked incredulously.

"Nevertheless." The old man bravely stepped forward and slowly knelt down next to the wounded hellion, heedless of its growls and snarling. "I… I don't know what just happened here." The elderly man admitted softly. "I don't know how you just did what you did… but what I do know is that you just saved my life." He turned his wrinkled face up at the woman and smiled genuinely. "And for that, I'm deeply grateful."

He turned his face back down to the injured hellion. "But the danger is done. There is no need to hurt this little guy anymore." Slowly, carefully, the man reached into his pocket and began slathering some gels over the wounds of the monster, careful to not apply too much pressure in his administration of the medicine. "Please, don't kill him."

Velvet watched this happen incredulously, her daemon claw now hanging limply at her side. "…You sure?" She asked quietly. "That dog might just decide to attack someone else later on. It might even go so far as to kill a child."

The old man nodded intently. "Then I will take steps to ensure that doesn't happen." With gentle movements, the man reached down and ever so gently stroked fur unmarred by blood, receiving a vicious snarl in response. "I shall personally take care of it and nurse it back to health." He turned his head around and met Velvet's eyes firmly. "There is simply no need to throw its life away. That is all."

Velvet was silent as the old man returned to his work, watching with crossed arms and narrowed eyes.

All around them, outside of the range of the street lamp illuminating their portion of the path, the darkness seemed to watch with bated breath. High up above, the drake continued to soar past the warped image of the full moon.

Making a decision, Velvet dispelled her daemon claw and turned on her heel, away from the two.

"…Don't go outside at night alone anymore." She murmured. "It's not safe."

"I won't." The old man agreed softly, nodding his head. "Thank you again, miss. In these trying times, it seems that all we can do is rely on each other." He patted the injured dog once more with a soft expression. "That is all."

Velvet was silent.

Slowly, she walked off, leaving the man alone with the injured hellion that had tried to take his life. A kind old man and an injured monster, alone in a patch of light in a sea of wicked darkness.

Was he wise, or merely a fool?

She didn't have the answer to that.

High up above, the drake continued to circle unceasingly over the town.

----​

The therion let out a sigh as she laid her head back on the hard wood wall of her room, idly appreciating the novelty of sitting on a clean, soft cot. Her eyes stared up at the ceiling of the brightly lit room; one of the three rooms that had been provided to the Shepherd's group by the local Hyland garrison in Marlind.

The small yet cozy rectangular room was minimally furnished with empty wood furniture; clearly meant to house only the passing dignitary and not to act as a permanent home. Even in here, the malevolence that was permeating the outside world seeped in through the cracks, polluting the air with a light purple tint.

Outside, the chirping of crickets could be heard through the thin wooden walls; their repetitive songs inducing a melancholic state of mind in the therion. It was sometime past midnight, she reckoned. She hadn't really felt the need to sleep, despite the ardors of the day. There was just too much to consider. She shifted on her bed, bringing her knee closer to her torso as she rested her right arm on it, idly considering her other, bandaged arm as she did so.

Ever since she had arrived back in this world, she hadn't ever had the time to just stop and really think.

Learning about the state of the continent called Glenwood. Discovering all of the changes that had occurred in the past thousand years. Immersing herself in the legends and myths surrounding the seraphim, hellions, and the Shepherd. She had been so preoccupied about furthering her goals that she'd lost sight of the fact that this world was in fact the same one that she had once called home.

The place that she'd once lived a peaceful life in. The world where she'd chat with her little brother about the ships that he dreamed of one day travelling on; the world where she'd go prickleboar hunting to afford groceries; the world where she laughed with her family at the dinner table.

The world that she'd lost long ago.

The therion let out a sigh, letting her bandaged arm fall limply to her side. How things had changed. And yet at the same time, how things had stayed the same.

How she was still the person she'd been forced to become back then.

Her mind turned to the people of Marlind. The rows of bodies ready to be put into wagons and burned outside of town. The groups of sick children huddled together in the streets. The overwhelming sense of helplessness suffocating the people.

People whom she'd save by achieving her goals. People whom the new, bright-faced Shepherd would so eagerly save if given the slightest chance to do so. People whom would be spared from the vicious plague of malevolence once the power of the fifth Empyrean, her precious little Phi, was restored. Something that would only come to pass once the Shepherd saved him from the current Lord of Calamity.

People whom she'd just as quickly doom to their fates if it meant achieving her goals. Her fists clenched abruptly. It was the truth and she knew it.

That was just the daemon she was. And will ever be.

The ever-present ball of malevolence suffocated inside her being began to writhe and pulsate, overwhelming her body in a desperate desire to expel the material evidence of her emotions. Evidence of her self-hatred.

She needed to leave. Now.

Two knocks suddenly thudded on the door to her room. "Velvet?" Came the muffled yet distinct voice of the Shepherd. "Can I come in?"

Blinking in surprise, Velvet sat up straight.

After a pause, she answered, "…Yeah."

With a noisy creak, the door to the room swung open. The Shepherd, sans his ceremonial cloak, stepped into the room with light footsteps. He blinked in surprise, registering Velvet sitting up on the bed, her long hair curled up beside her jacketless figure. "Oh! S-sorry!" He abruptly apologized, wincing. "I just saw the candlelight through door and thought you were still up." He abruptly turned to leave. "I-I'll just get going now."

Velvet raised an eyebrow in response. "You're already here." She pointed out dryly, crossing her arms and leaning back against the wall. "Mind explaining why the hell you're up this late? You were pretty much ready to pass out when we got here."

Sorey turned around and gave the woman a sheepish grin. "I… couldn't sleep."

Wordlessly, Velvet beckoned the Shepherd in. Obeying, the young man closed the door behind him and stepped into the room, electing to lean against the empty table across the room from the bed Velvet sat upon.

"So then," Velvet prompted, "what's all this about?"

Hesitantly, Sorey scratched the back of his neck before meeting Velvet's eyes. "I've… been wanting to talk to you for a while now. I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

Sorey shook his head firmly. "…I wanted to ask you..." He shifted on his feet, leaning in with a serious expression.

"…How do you do it?" He asked softly.

Velvet blinked.

Sorey continued, "How did you live, knowing that you were the only resonant human around? How did you live, knowing about the existence of the seraphim and the hellions? Knowing the very truth of the world that everyone else is so ignorant of? How did you get used to being…" He trailed off.

"…Different?" Velvet finished with a quiet voice.

After some hesitation, Sorey gave a solemn nod.

"…Yeah."

The chirping of the crickets filled the silence in the wake of his question. Velvet's eyes were distant as she looked away, considering the Shepherd's words. At her side, her bandaged arm rested, innocent and motionless.

"Do you remember what I said to you, back at the Griflet Bridge?" She asked softly.

Sorey looked away, absently examining the texture of the table he was leaning against. "That I should be… relieved at the people's reactions?" He recounted, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. "I… never understood what you meant." He admitted.

"Think about it." Velvet ordered seriously, turning her gaze onto the young man. "When you commanded the very earth in front of all of those people, what did you feel?"

Sorey frowned, looking down at his feet. "Like… I was a monster." He admitted. "Like I was something other than human; something that had no right to stand alongside them."

"And why is that a bad thing?" Velvet pressed.

He blinked. "Why…? But of course, it's a bad thing!" Sorey exclaimed, his eyes wide and incredulous. "Nobody wants to be seen as different." He shook his head. "And besides, it's not like I should be any different from them to begin with. I'm human, just as much as they are."

"Are you saying that you want to lose your resonance?" Velvet asked, her eyes hard.

Sorey froze.

"Lailah, Mikleo, Edna. Your little family in Elysia." Velvet listed off. "Are you saying that the acceptance of the masses as one of their own is worth becoming as dull and ignorant as the rest of the humans?" She leaned forward on the bed, resting her elbows on her knees. "Are you telling me that you'd prefer to give up your resonance and simply become another human, clueless about the beings whom you claim to so dearly wish to coexist with?" She asked pointedly, raising an eyebrow. "Or were those words hollow from the start?"

Silence followed in the wake of her harsh words.

"…I see." Sorey mumbled softly, comprehension slowly dawning on his expression. "So that's what you meant back then."

She nodded. "And there's your answer to how I live with being different from everyone else." She shifted, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I'm just who I am. It's as simple as that."

Sorey's eyebrows were furrowed as he digested her words. Hesitantly, he pointed out, "But then… what about me?" He held out his gloved left hand emblazoned with the emblem of the Shepherds. "I know I'm young, and I haven't gone through nearly the sort of trials that I'm sure you have…" He shook his head. "It's just… how am I supposed to know who I am? What kind of person I need to become so that I can be sure of myself… like you are of yourself?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Velvet let out a scoff. "You're the Shepherd." She drawled. "The big, magical solution to the world's problems. The one destined to stave off the forces of evil, and to cleanse the world of all the havoc brought upon us by the Lord of Calamity."

Sorey frowned. "But that's a title. Not a person." He pointed out.

He shook his head. "…I have yet to decide what kind of person Sorey the Shepherd will be. There is so much that I have yet to learn; so much that I have yet to… even begin to comprehend." He let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Even with the whole Griflet Bridge ordeal and the advice you and Lailah have been giving me… I'm nowhere near finding my answer anytime soon."

Velvet's eyes had softened.

"Then just keep doing as Lailah suggests." She urged quietly. "Continue your journey. Learn more about the world, and in turn, yourself. Find out what you think is right, and act accordingly. Only you can determine the sort of person you will become, Sorey. No one can simply tell you; not even if the answer they give you is the correct one."

"…I see." Sorey nodded slowly.

He abruptly met Velvet's eyes. "Then what about you?"

Velvet shook her head. "…I've already found my answer." She stated, her eyes distant. "I've already discovered the sort of person I am. That's all there is to it. There is nothing else for me to learn."

"I… don't believe that." Sorey's objection was surprisingly firm.

He put a fist on his chest. "Gramps once told me that nobody ever stops learning; even him. Everybody makes mistakes, and everybody learns from them." He shook his head. "If I can change and find the person I want to become, then you can also do the same." He shrugged. "At least, that's what makes the most sense to me." Sorey gave a cheeky grin. "But, if you're happy with the person you've become, then I suppose there's no real reason to change who you are."

"…Right." Velvet mumbled, looking away.

Suddenly, the Shepherd let out an involuntary, massive yawn, standing up and stretching his muscles like a cat.

Velvet's eyebrows narrowed. "The chit-chat can wait. We've travelled a long way, and we still have a lot of work to do in order to purify this town. Go and get your ass in bed." She ordered, a demanding edge to her voice.

Sorey flinched, giving Velvet a sheepish grin. "Ahaha, yeah, that might be a good idea." He rolled his shoulders in exhaustion. "It's been a while since we've been able to rest in beds. I should probably take advantage of them while I can."

Velvet glared as the boy's eye began twitching sleepily. "Then get going." She demanded. "Now."

"Y-yes ma'am!"

All of his instincts sensing the impending danger before him, Sorey stood up straight and quickly hustled to the door obediently. Just before leaving, however, he looked over his shoulder and gave his companion a genuine smile.

"…Thanks for the talk, Velvet." He grinned honestly. "I really needed it."

The former Lord of Calamity gave the Shepherd a soft smile back. "…Don't worry about it."

Her smile turned into a frown. "Now go to bed." She growled.

"Y-yep! Already gone!"

And with that, Sorey closed the door with a gentle click. The sounds of his footsteps receding down the hallway echoed through the empty room as he left. Velvet let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in, un-tensing her muscles and leaning back against the wooden wall.

After a moment's contemplation, she shook her head and banished the thoughts of the recent conversation from her mind. Instead, she turned to the candles burning slowly on her bedside table and blew them out, returning the room to darkness. Quietly, the therion slipped under the covers and closed her eyes, levelling her breathing and allowing herself to rest after a long day's travel.

She felt no need to expel malevolence anymore.

That night, she would dream of the past; of warm memories involving a group of daemons, humans and malakhim. Outside, in the darkness, the crickets continued to sing.

----​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 7 – Expendable.

The creaking of rotten wood punctuated their every movement, echoing deafeningly loudly throughout the mansion. The dull grey walls of the hallway they traversed were utterly bare and riddled with mold. The decades-old red carpet under their feet coughed out dust with each step as they warily made their way deeper into the depths of the silent building. Stale, elaborate cobwebs silently stood vigil as the intruders proceeded, glistening hauntingly in the pale darkness.

Every step, every shift of body weight, even every breath felt wholly unnatural in such a stagnant, confined space.

Sorey took in his surroundings with keen eyes as he trotted down the dark hallway, his hand resting readily on the sword hanging from his right hip. All around him, flakes of malevolence drifted lazily in the silence, flourishing in the powerful domain of the hellion that had made the mansion its lair. Every muscle in his body remained tensed and rigid as he proceeded, driven by instinct in the face of such a dark and foreboding atmosphere.

The soft clinking of metal in the quiet abruptly reminded him of his companion traversing the hallway with him, causing him to briefly glance to his side in her direction.

Velvet Davidson's body was seemingly relaxed as always as she strolled forward on the carpet, her black coat and long raven hair gliding smoothly behind her. Her arms hung loosely at her sides, swinging rhythmically in tandem with each determined stride. He decided to break the silence in an attempt to calm his jittery nerves.

"Hey, Velvet?" He prompted, his voice low and soft. "Do you think the others are alright?"

She glanced over her shoulder at him before waving a dismissive hand in the air in response. "They'll be fine." She assured. "They're a group consisting of three seraphim and a single squire. I'm sure they'll be able to handle anything they find lurking about in here." She turned her head forward once more, her eyes actively scanning the darkness ahead. "If anything, I think it's us that you should be worrying about more." She pointed out dryly.

"Yeah… You're probably right." Sorey agreed, following her gaze and also staring down the darkened hallway.

Their footsteps continued rhythmically, echoing down the empty cavernous hallway as they turned the corner, wandering aimlessly in hopes of finding their way back to their group.

"…Man, though." Sorey sighed, absently rolling his stiff shoulders as he walked. "Who would've thought that there would be a trapdoor back there in that room?" He commented. "And that it would open while we the two of us were standing on top of it, even!"

"No sane person ever expects something like that." Velvet let out a huff of annoyance, her expression darkening. "All I know is that I'm having some choice words with the hellion occupying this wreck the moment we finally find it." She growled. "That was not funny."

Sorey grinned. "You and me both." He agreed. He abruptly blinked and scratched his head sheepishly as a though evidently occurred to him. "Ah..." he groaned, "Mikleo's probably worried sick right about now."

"Don't worry about it." Velvet gestured in his direction. "I'm sure Lailah would remind him that as a seraph, he'd feel something if his precious vessel had sustained any lasting damage." She pointed out.

"Even if she did," Sorey shook his head, "I'm not so sure that would stop him from worrying." He shrugged. "Mikleo's always been the sort of person to worry like that." He reminisced.

Velvet gave him a look. "By the way, what exactly is the deal with you guys?" She asked curiously as the two continued walking. "The two of you are from a village of seraphim, right?"

"Yeah. Elysia." Sorey nodded with a soft smile growing on his face, his body unconsciously losing its tension as his thoughts evidently drifted towards his home.

"Mikleo and I are lifelong friends." He explained, absently reaching behind his back and pulling out a familiar weathered book. "We grew up together." The Celestial Record slid open with a homely crack, revealing hundreds of detailed, notated pages of the history of the world. Velvet watched with amusement the Shepherd ran his excited eyes almost dotingly over the words of his favorite book.

"…We must've explored all of the ruins in the vicinity of Elysia dozens of times over throughout our childhood." He recounted warmly. "It got to the point where we ended up making it into a game. Whoever finds the most historically valuable artefact wins." Sorey looked up from the book and gave Velvet a sheepish grin. "Gramps didn't find our games nearly as entertaining though."

Velvet found herself smirking at the image. "I feel sorry for him." She remarked wryly. "The two of you are already a handful to deal with as teenagers. I can hardly imagine how stressful it must have been to have to worry about you two crawling around ruins as kids."

Sorey scratched the back of his head bashfully, grinning. "To be honest? I feel the same way." He admitted freely. "Some of the things we did back then were super dangerous in retrospect. I really respect Gramps for putting up with the two of us back then."

The woman tilted her head curiously. "Like what?"

He winced. "Well, this one time," he recounted, "the two of us decided to try and race each other to the bottom of the biggest ruin in Elysia. We were about 8 years old back then, I think. Both of us had the same idea to take the same shortcut down to the bottom via a cliffside path."

"Let me guess." Velvet interrupted dryly. "You tripped."

Sorey chuckled, scratching his cheek sheepishly. "You guessed it." He confirmed. "Yet, the moment he heard me fall, Mikleo came to a screeching halt. Without a single moment's hesitation, he lunged off the cliff himself and tried to grab my hand as I fell."

Velvet blinked. "Seriously?"

Sorey nodded honestly. "I was really mad at him afterwards for doing it afterward, but the fact is that he ended up saving my life." His eyes were soft. In his hands, the Celestial Record was instinctively cradled close to his chest. "...After he had done so, Mikleo managed to grab a hold of both the ledge and my hand, leaving the two of us dangling precariously off the side of the ruins in the outskirts of Elysia." He recounted soberly.

"I don't think I had ever been so scared in my life up until that point. I really thought I was going to die." He chuckled humorlessly. "I gotta say… That moment kinda sucked."

Velvet's lips were pressed in a firm line as she imagined the scene. "That… sounds horrible."

He nodded seriously. "…After we'd miraculously made our way back home, we both promised never to touch ruins again." He shook his head. "And after the lashing that Gramps gave us for it once we'd told him what had happened, we really meant it too."

At this, she scoffed. "Right. Going by your current selves, I'm sure the two of you were right back at it within a month."

Sorey grinned back sheepishly. "Try a week."

Velvet facepalmed. "…Edna's right." She muttered, sliding her hand off her face. "You boys are idiots."

Sorey chuckled in response.

Together, the two of them continued to traverse the narrow corridors, randomly choosing turns to make in what was increasingly feeling like a complex labyrinth underneath the Dumnonia Museum. The stale, dry air was an unchanging constant wherever they went, plagued with thin traces of malevolence and filled with deafening silence.

"How about you?" Sorey's voice broke the quiet once more. "What's your home like?" He asked curiously. "The one you grew up in?"

Seemingly at ease, the woman looked away from the Shepherd, apparently reminiscing about the past. Internally, her mind was once more hard at work, actively linking falsehoods together in an effort to weave an elaborate tapestry that would ultimately obscure her true identity. Creating lies to tell in the face of the Shepherd's welcoming friendship.

"…My village wasn't very interesting." She claimed, facing straight ahead, avoiding his eyes. "Me and my little brother lived in our own house in the outskirts of town, working to sustain ourselves on our own."

Sorey's eyes were empathetic. "It must've been hard." He remarked softly. "Living without anybody watching over you and being all alone."

Velvet shrugged. "We had each other." Her eyes were distant. "We were a happy family. That's all that mattered."

"And… the seraphim that you mentioned?" His voice was decidedly curious.

Faces appeared once more in Velvet's mind. A soft smile crept up into her expression. "There were two of them." She recalled. "One was a seraph who had travelled the world and had seemingly seen everything there is to have been seen." She glanced at him. "I'm sure the two of you would've had lots of talk about with regards to ancient artefacts."

Sorey's face was bright and awed. "A seraph who has travelled the world…!" He cocked his head to the side curiously. "…And the other?" He prompted.

"The other seraph…" Velvet's eyes drifted away once more. At her sides, her fingers slowly curled into fists. "…was nobody important." She muttered.

"Oh." He blinked, taken aback by the statement.

His brow furrowed. "…Hey, you said that the first seraph 'would've' had lots to talk with me." He pointed out curiously. "What happened to the two of them?"

Velvet looked away, her expression darkening. "…Time." She muttered resentfully without thought.

Sorey blinked.

Suddenly, Velvet let out a curse and exploded into action, leaping to the side and body-slamming Sorey into the wall in the process. The two of them crashed painfully against the wall together right at the same moment something massive fell down from nowhere and landed on the floorboards that they'd been standing on with an ear-rattling crash.

BANG!

Wood splinters flew everywhere in an instant in the wake of the impact, accompanied by a choking cloud of displaced dust that billowed outwards and engulfed the entire hallway. Wood planks and faded carpet alike were shredded by the object that had nearly fallen on their heads as it sank deep into the floor with the force of sheer weight alone.

Silence fell once more as the hallway once more regressed into a deceptively stagnant state.

"Gah!" Sorey let out a massive breath as he let his picked his head up and regained his bearings, lying there a few meters away from where the object had fallen. He blinked, staring incredulously at what said object was. "W-what the heck?"

"…You have got to be kidding me." At his side, Velvet got to her feet with a savage growl. "Just what the hell is this?!" She demanded.

Sorey scratched his cheek with an amazed expression. "Uh… It… looks like a piano." He pointed out uselessly.

The glare Velvet sent over her shoulder at him in response sent a chill up his spine. "I can see that." She grumbled. "I'm asking why exactly a piano just fell from the damn ceiling."

She turned her glare back onto the utterly imploded piano that had indeed crash-landed right where the two of them had been standing moments before.

Dusting his cloak off, Sorey got to his feet and stood next to her gazing up at the ceiling, which he only now realized featured a square hole leading up into the abyss. "…Oh!" He plonked a fist in his palm in sudden realization and whirled around to face an inquisitive Velvet with wide, enthusiastic eyes. "I got it!"

Velvet blinked. "What?"

Sorey gestured eagerly at the chute above their heads. "Doesn't that look familiar? It's the exact same dimensions as the pit that we fell through earlier when that trapdoor activated!"

At his words, the woman took a closer look at the hole in the ceiling. Sure enough, the square opening was almost if not exactly the same dimensions. "Huh. Your point?"

"I have a hypothesis." Sorey walked up to the fallen piano and turned to Velvet. "I think that this museum was originally built as a lavish mansion back before it was converted." He gestured animatedly with his hands. "Such a place must've been owned by a really, really rich person, right?"

At Velvet's nod, he continued unceasingly, "Then that means that rich person must've hired a whole host of servants to help clean such an elaborate mansion. With so many people needing to go to so many places on such a regular basis, the mansion would've been way too hectic to be a relaxing place." Sorey pointed out. "So, I'm guessing that what we've been walking through," he gestured at the hallway they were standing in, "was meant as passageways for servants to go to and from in their duties, unseen by the patrons of the mansion."

Comprehension dawned on Velvet's expression as she caught on. "So, the trapdoor that we fell through…"

"Yep!" Clearly ecstatic that Velvet had registered his point, Sorey nodded with a grin. "That trapdoor was just one of the many trapdoors hidden around the mansion, meant as access points for the servants travelling through the mansion with these passageways."

He let out a hum, grasping his chin with his hand and steamrolling onward with his hypothesis. "…I imagine that the servants would've used ladders back in the day to enter and exit the manor using the trapdoors. Those ladders must've degraded over time."

He blinked, snapping his fingers in realization. "Ah! Then that means that all of this; the trapdoors, the hallways; all of it hasn't been touched for ages ever since the mansion was converted into a museum!" His eyes seemed to shine with enthusiasm. "That means we've accidentally stumbled on a sort of ancient secret passageway! That's awesome!" He exclaimed. "Wait 'till Mikleo gets a load of this!"

Velvet rolled her eyes at the completely distracted Shepherd as he continued to pace back and forth, unable to contain the energy thrumming through his body at the revelation. "While that's interesting and all," she drawled wryly, "don't you think you're forgetting something here?"

Sorey abruptly blinked, freezing in his steps and turning to face her. "Ahah." He chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Right. We should get going, huh?"

She just shook her head in wry amusement. "Come on."

Together, the two of them fell back in step, walking away from the wreckage behind them. Now that he had derived the true significance of the locale he was exploring, all signs of tension had left Sorey's body. Now, every step he took contained a bounce as he walked forward while his eyes eagerly drank in every single faucet of detail provided.

Watching all of this in bemusement, Velvet couldn't help but roll her eyes. A bookworm and a weirdo. She couldn't help but be reminded of…

"Oh." Sorey abruptly stopped and turned around, facing her impassionedly. "Velvet, I forgot to mention. Thanks for saving me back there, seriously. I would've been flattened without your help."

"Don't worry about it." She waved him off. "You're the Shepherd, right?" She remarked, raising an eyebrow. "Your life is more important than mine. It's only natural that I do what I can to protect you."

At those words, Sorey closed his eyes in consternation.

"…Don't say that." He muttered harshly. "That's not true. Not in the slightest."

Silence followed in the wake of his words. All around them, lingering malevolence intermingled with floating particles of dust, disturbed by their presence. The darkness enshrouded both ends of the hallway, leaving the two of them isolated and alone in the bowels of the museum.

"…You really believe that?" Velvet's words were low and serious. Her eyes did not leave his. "You believe that, knowing that you're the only one in this entire world who has the ability to quell the hellions?"

Holding her gaze, Sorey nodded solemnly. "…I do."

The silence held all around them. There he stood, the Shepherd of the people; vehemently denying the importance of his own powers when the fate of the world itself was at stake. Velvet's eyes narrowed in disapproval.

Abruptly, he blinked, tilting his head to the side. "Hold on." He breathed, his body tensing up in alarm. "You hear that?"

Velvet turned her head towards where he was indicating. "What?"

"…Laughing." Sorey seemed almost entranced by the sound, his eyes wide.

Furrowing her brow, the woman closed her eyes and concentrated. A shiver ran down her spine as she registered what he was describing; the eerie, inappropriate, and unmistakable sound of childish giggling permeating through the air.

The source of which was quickly closing in on their position.

Both travelers exchanged determined nods and fell into defensive combat stances, readying their bodies in preparation for battle.

Velvet moved her bandaged arm to form a protective angle in front of her while at the same time letting her sword-bearing arm dangle loosely at her side. At her side, Sorey slowly drew his sword, letting the ceremonial wooden handle slide through his fingers and right itself before him. They stood there together in the middle of the hallway, facing off against the encroaching darkness with wary readiness.

And then the ghost hellion pounced.

It took the form of a tall, horrifying specter wielding dual material blades in each transparent hand that emitted a deafening, shiver-inducing screech as it slashed its weapons towards its intended victim, Sorey. The Shepherd had only seconds to react to its appearance and raise his sword in a weak half-guard.

CLANG! CLANG!

The slamming of steel on steel echoed noisily throughout the hallway. Both swords of the monster impacted on Sorey's with overwhelming force, causing him to stagger back in the wake of the attack. The hellion capitalized on the opening, lunging forward and pressing its attack.

SLASH!

Only to cry out in agony as a hidden boot blade carved out a chunk of ectoplasm from its back. Velvet landed lithely in the wake of her kick and promptly raised her right arm and extended her blade to meet the hellion's clumsy retaliatory sword swipe. The cruel blade of the ghost sparked as it clashed with the therion's resolute steel.

Undeterred, the ghost hellion screeched once more and spun around, bringing its second sword around to rend the woman in two. In response, Velvet leapt backwards in a backflip, feeling the harsh displacement of air as the blade sailed inches away from her body in midair.

"Hah!" Sorey let out a yell as he jerked his sword into the hellion's side, eliciting a wild, enraged screech. Quickly as possible, the young man pulled his sword out and leapt backwards, dodging the hellion's furious swipes in response.

Velvet took the opportunity to get the Shepherd's attention. "Sorey!" She yelled, turning back to her opponent. "When I tell you to, purify it."

He nodded sharply in response. "I'm counting on you!" He called back.

The hellion let out a screech, preventing further communication as it charged furiously towards Velvet with both swords held high up in the air like twin guillotines. Undeterred, Velvet simply took a single step back and readied herself, tensing her legs and waiting for her opponent to make its move.

With a cry, the ghost hellion slashed swords down at the same time, swiping down and across its body and seeking to crush Velvet body in-between its blades.

"RISING FALCON!"

Instead, it found nothing but empty air.

With a cry, Velvet pushed herself harshly up into the air and sailed above the monster's blades and twisted mid-flight, redirecting her velocity downwards and towards her target. With practiced grace, the woman pivoted her body and extended the hidden blade inside of her boot, angling it directly towards her victim.

CRASH!

The hellion didn't stand a chance as the woman slammed into its chest, her blade sinking deep into where its heart would've been. Losing its balance, the ghost hellion crumpled into a heap on the ground, its swords falling uselessly at it sides with loud clangs. Agilely, Velvet leapt off the monster's chest the moment it fell and landed a few meters away, rolling smoothly to absorb the impact. She got to her knee and made eye contact with the Shepherd.

"Now!" She barked.

Sorey didn't need to be told twice. Rushing in with blue flames bursting from his blade, the young man waved his sword over the fallen corpse of the hellion, allowing the purifying power to spread from his body and into the corrupted soul's. Velvet was blinded by the brilliance of the bright flame as it rudely invaded upon the darkness of the hallway, casting off all hints of shadow in the wake of its power.

Sorey let out a shaky breath as the purification process ended, leaving behind nothing but empty air in the wake of the purified ghost hellion. "Alright!" He grinned, turning to his companion enthusiastically.

His grin faltered when he registered the scowl on her face.

"That was pathetic." The words rang out noisily into the now deafeningly quiet hallway. With deliberate, measured steps, Velvet made her way up to Sorey, crossing her arms and making her displeasure tangibly evident. "It's been bothering me for a while, but now it's getting to the point where I can't just ignore it any longer." She narrowed her eyes.

"You've never been taught how to use a sword properly."

It was a statement, not a question. A harsh observation of a reality that was evidently painfully obvious.

In the face of the woman's harsh, reprimanding expression, Sorey winced. "Y-yeah." He nodded. "I trained myself to use the sword based off of only what I read in books back in Elysia. Nobody else used a sword but me, since they all had seraphic artes." He raised his eyes and met Velvet's with a bashful expression.

"To be honest… I've been feeling rather useless next to your own swordplay." He gave Velvet a respectful nod. "Your moves are really amazing. The artes you use sometimes are just so complex…"

Velvet's eyes had softened somewhat. She shifted on her feet, letting her right arm fall onto her hip. "

…I can teach you, if you want." She offered gently.

She shrugged, looking off into the distance. "I can't really say how good I am of a teacher, but…" She trailed off.

"Really!?"

Sorey's eyes were wide as he took an eager step forward. "You'd teach me, Velvet?!" He asked incredulously. "Just like that?"

"Sure." Velvet confirmed with a nonchalant shrug. "You can think of it as thanks for letting me travel with you, if you want."

"That would be amazing! Absolutely!" Sorey was beaming brightly as he sheathed his sword, his back straightening with the notion of being trained by someone so nuanced as her. He cocked his head curiously. "Does that mean you trained by anyone back in your village, Velvet?"

Velvet hesitated.

Plans must be solid, and reactions flexible. The familiar words, so old yet so very much engrained in her very soul, resounded in her ears.

She clenched her fists.

"…No. I'm self-taught as well." She lied, idly examining her sheathed gauntlet blade worn on her right wrist. "…I just use things I've picked up here and there." She dismissed.

"That's really impressive." Sorey shifted on his feet. "Well, if you're willing, Velvet, I'd love to learn from you." He smiled determinedly. "If I could be even a tenth of how good a fighter you are in the end, I'd be more than happy."

Velvet gave him an appraising look. "…Well. If that's the case, then I hope you're willing to work hard." Her lips curved into a malicious smirk, her eyes growing almost predatory.

"Because you can be sure I won't be going easy on you." She promised darkly.

Sorey gulped.

"A-AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Both of them flinched as a howling scream echoed loudly through the entire mansion, emitted by a very familiar voice.

"Mikleo!" Sorey's suddenly panicked eyes shot to Velvet's.

At once, the two of them took off through the darkness towards where the scream had originated. The pounding of Sorey's leather boots on carpet mirrored the slamming of Velvet's steel ones as they charged through the darkness and rounded the corner, finding and taking a set of stairs at the end of the hallway.

Heaving for breath, Sorey stumbled to the top of the stairway and blinked, finding a complete and utter dead end before him. "W-what?" He breathed, hunching over and grasping his knees in exhaustion. "But I could've sworn that…!"

"Move!"

His thought was interrupted as his companion slid smoothly by him with the grace of a ghost and, without hesitation, pivoted her body on a dime while raising her left leg high in the air to slam her boot directly into the face of the wall.

CRASH!

Blinding rays of light flooded the darkened stairwell, causing Sorey to raise a hand up against the intrusive brightness. He gaped as he registered that Velvet had just kicked a hole in the wall; a wall that was actually made of temporary boards, judging by the cracked planks hanging from the sides. He blinked once more, belatedly registering the scene that awaited the two of them in the hole that Velvet had created.

The rest of the group stared back at them with wide eyes, their shocked bodies frozen still in their former positions like actors in a scene from a play.

Lailah apparently had been laughing judging by the fan of casting cards she was still holding up to her mouth. Alisha stood by her side, her hands still clutching her sides in the wake of a fit of giggles.

And then there in the middle of the room laid Mikleo.

Or, rather, that was what Sorey assumed, judging by the edge of his friend's familiar cape, as the rest of the seraph had been positively blanketed in what appeared to be a metric ton of flour.

Sorey blinked. "…Mikleo?" He asked hesitantly, his voice ringing out in the shocked silence. "That you?"

"Who else do you think it could be?"

Edna's face was utterly and completely smug as she trotted easily forward up to the hole in the wall, a deviously satisfied smirk on her face.

Almost daintily, the earth seraph held up a rather off-putting red and black mask depicting what appeared to be a monster of sorts into the air as an explanation. "Only he could be such a scaredy-cat and to let himself to be so surprised by this thing." Idly, the seraph tossed the mask over her shoulder as an afterthought.

"Edna… you did this?" Sorey asked with wide eyes as the mask clattered to the floorboards behind her, aghast.

"Hey, it's not like it's my fault." She pointed out apathetically and waved a hand towards a large spilt bag of flour lying in a mess behind Mikleo. "I wasn't the one who decided to jump backwards into some shelves and end up dressing like a ghost." She gave Sorey an innocent look. "…Besides. He was so tense, I figured a good scare would be good for him."

Sorey was lost for words, gaping dumbly at the seraph.

At his side, he heard a long, drawn-out sigh.

He turned to find Velvet with a hand planted firmly upon her face. "Honestly." She muttered under her breath. "Like I said, you really didn't need worry about them." She waved her other hand in the air. "Clearly, our absence didn't worry them one bit."

"Th-that's not true!" Alisha rallied in their defense, taking an impassioned step forward. "We were all extraordinarily worried after you two disappeared out of the blue like that!" She hesitated, glancing at the plume of settling flour that was vaguely shaped like Mikleo before gathering herself once more. "D-despite what it might seem like at the moment, we were all busy trying to look for you two!" She insisted valiantly.

Lailah's smile was once more being covered by her playing cards as she gave her own two cents. "Yes, that was indeed the case." She nodded sagely. "One might even say that us four were doing everything in our flour to help!"

Alisha blinked in surprise. Edna's eye twitched. Sorey's face split into a hesitant, forced grin.

Velvet's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Lailah…" She growled lowly.

"Ah!" Suddenly, Lailah prudently turned away with innocent sparkles in her eyes, away from the growling hellion in disguise. "It's probably best that we go help Mikleo before he inhales too much flour, don't you think?" She proposed innocently.

"R-right." Shaking his head, Sorey gingerly pushed himself through the hole in the wall and stumbled into the brightly lit second floor room, squinting to help adjust his eyes to the blinding sunlight seeping in through the windows. "Geez! That's bright!" He groaned, blinking rapidly.

Stepping past him, Velvet made her way up to Mikleo's knocked-out form and glanced over her shoulder. "Edna. Give me a hand." She ordered. "This is your fault, after all."

Pouting slightly, the earth seraph surprisingly agreed to the command. "…Fine." She grumbled, trotting up to the therion's side and grasping an exposed, twitching right hand with her own hand. "On three. One, two, three!" Together, the two of them forcibly pulled the poor water seraph out of his powdery grave.

"GYAAAH!"

Like an abruptly reanimated corpse, Mikleo came to life thrashing and kicking, coughing and sneezing his lungs out onto the ground, groaning in agony.

"Da… damn you, Edna!" He managed to articulate between coughing fits as he managed to sit up, glaring hatefully at the smug little earth seraph standing before him. "Why… why would you do that to me?!" He demanded, aggressively fluffing his hair and creating a massive puff cloud of flour to the amusement of those spectating. "What have I done that could possibly have warranted such punishment?!"

"Hmm." Edna hummed, looking away. "You're a Meebo. Why else?" She said, as if that explained everything.

"I told you to stop calling me that!"

"That's enough!"

Both of them blinked and turned around as Velvet put her hands on her hip, glaring down at the two of them. "Edna, apologize." She demanded, glaring at the earth seraph. "You went too far this time."

Mikleo blinked in surprise at the surprise turn of events. What was even more surprising was the genuine emotion that flitted through Edna's normally stoic expression at Velvet's reprimand.

In response, Edna gave a slow nod. "…Fine." She turned to Mikleo and, to his surprise, actually bowed her body forward in a small but undeniable gesture of apology. "…Sorry." She mumbled.

That was it. None of the typical jeering or name-calling. Mikleo was left in a state of pure shock.

"Mikleo."

The seraph in question glanced at Velvet who in turn gestured meaningfully. "O-oh!" Registering what she meant, Mikleo blinked and turned to face Edna fully. "It's fine, Edna." He nodded slowly. "I get it, you didn't mean it to go so far. No hard feelings."

"Hmph." Edna looked away. "Don't get used to it. Meebo."

Sorey promptly shoved himself in-between the two of them with a calm, peacemaking smile.

"Alright, come on you two." He urged lightly before the tentative peace could devolve into a bickering fight once more. He turned to his friend still sitting on the ground and offered him a hand. "Let's get going." He urged.

It was only then that Mikleo truly registered the presences of the two missing group members. He shot to his feet. "Sorey!" He yelped worriedly. "You're alright! Where did you come from? You and Velvet disappeared on us all of a sudden without any warning!"

"We're alright!" Sorey reassured placatingly with an easy grin, waving his hand towards the hole in the wall. "We fell through a trapdoor and only managed to find our way back to you all just now." He scratched his cheek wryly. "I'd say that your screams were what helped us find our way out of the maze down there. Thanks."

Mikleo's face turned bright red. "O-oh. You heard that, huh?"

"Pretty sure the whole continent heard you." Edna commented wryly from the sidelines.

"Never mind that, Mikleo." Sorey refocused the seraph's attention on himself. His eyes brightened in scholarly fervor. "Just wait 'till you hear what Velvet and I stumbled upon down there!"

As the Sorey eagerly began sharing the details of their adventure in the bowels of the Dumnonia Museum, Velvet trotted over to Alisha and Lailah, sharing their expressions of amusement at the mania of the two boys. "You two alright?" Velvet posed the question.

Alisha nodded. "We're all fine." She glanced at the fallen bag of flour lying on the ground with a chuckle. "Well, save for a few casualties, that is." She added.

"I'm glad you two could find your way back to us." Lailah remarked seriously, giving Velvet a thankful nod. "It seems that, despite a few hitches along the way, all's well that ends well." She commented brightly.

"…It's not over yet." Velvet's voice had taken on a sudden edge.

As one, the group dropped their conversations and turned towards the door to the room as a distinctly sharp, foreign sound approached from behind it.

BANG!

Weapons were drawn immediately, and battle formations were instinctively formed as a huge armored hellion charged through the remains of the shredded wooden door, wielding a mind-bogglingly long jousting spear in one hand. It was a monster consisting only of bright-golden pieces of armor, decorated with intricate patterns of distinctly cruel beauty. Its head consisted of nothing but an emotionless helmet with two wings jutting out from its top.

Without pause, the hellion attacked the intruders in its domain.

"Come on!" Velvet urged, charging in first.

Sorey was quick on her heels, his sword held readily at his side. "Let's take 'em down!" He called.

With brilliant flashes of mana and sparks, the Shepherd's group and the hellion clashed together in battle before the brilliance of the daylight sun streaming in through the open windows behind them.

Together once more.

----​

The world lit up in blue and silver as the Shepherd's holy power took hold of the monster. All around them, the world seemed to lighten as the malevolence in the domain began to dissipate. Through their efforts, the Shepherd's group had managed to purify the monster that had been plaguing the Dumnonia Museum.

An ear-grating high-pitched squeal abruptly burst out over the roaring of silver flames, resounding off the walls of the room.

"Stop! Stop stop stop stop stop stooooop!"

Sorey blinked, taking a step back as the helmet of the armored hellion grew two squeaky legs and charged at him, effectively cornering him.

He blinked again when he registered a round body and two very irate eyes glaring up at him from underneath the oversized helmet.

The little seraph squeaked indignantly up at him. "Stop it ya big lug! Prancin' prickleboars, what's gotten into ya?!"

"I… uh…" Sorey stammered, hesitantly untensing his body and sliding his sword back into its sheath. "…Sorry?"

All around them, the rest of the group did the same with their own weapons, approaching wearily after an arduous battle.

Lailah in particular stopped short and shook her head. "…Oh, what a fool I was!" She exclaimed. "I should have realized you would be here." She inclined her head at the small helmeted seraph at the group's feet. "Atakk." She greeted.

The change in the small seraph's demeanor was instant as he turned from Sorey to Lailah, a massive grin appearing in his chubby facial features. He let out a soft gasp. "Oh, my goodness!" He exclaimed, spinning around in a dainty circle and raising both arms high. "It's pretty Lady Lailah! How ya been?"

The group watched as the little thing fell into a rapid shuffle directly aimed towards Lailah's legs before pouncing. Without missing a beat, the fire seraph sidestepped to the side, keeping her hands held cordially together.

Clank.

Having missed his target, the helmeted seraph named Atakk faceplanted straight into the carpet with a loud thud.

"Aww…" Atakk groaned, pushing himself up and readjusting the oversized helmet on his head in the process. "You never were a lick of fun."

As the small seraphim got up, Alisha idly clutched her right arm with her left hand. "Is this… a friend of yours?" She asked hesitantly.

"Sort of." The fire seraph answered vaguely. "It was a long time ago."

"My name's Atakk." Atakk introduced himself with a bow towards Alisha. "Cheesed to please ya!"

Mikleo put a hand on his hip. "That's a weird name."

"Well, aren't you rude!" Atakk huffed, crossing his stubby arms. "Don't you know that Atakk is a normin name of the highest pedigree?!" His spine stiffened. "Means I'm fancy!"

Sorey blinked. "Hey, Lailah?" He looked at the woman. "What's a normin?" He asked curiously.

Lailah glanced down at Atakk contemplatively. "They're a special kind of seraphim." She explained. "They aren't quite as powerful as a Lord of the Land, but rather they have the ability to boost another seraph's power." She tilted her head, humming to herself as she decided how best to phrase it. "You could say that they are all… maids, in a manner of speaking."

Mikleo tapped a hand to his temple. "They're… all maids?" He shook his head. "I'm afraid I'm not so sure I get it."

Atakk, meanwhile, had flushed red with Lailah's explanation. "Ahh, that's my Lailah!" He chirped, raising his hands once more in the air. A dreamy sort of quality overcame his eyes. "You know me like the back of your own lily-white hand…!"

Just like that, the normin seraph shuffled forward once more in an attempt to grasp Lailah's exposed legs. And just like that, the normin seraph was foiled as Lailah nonchalantly dodged his efforts once more.

Clank.

Velvet Crowe looked away from the perverted normin's seraph's actions as she watched from her spot leaning against the wall behind Sorey, her arms crossed and her jaw clenched. She shook her head to herself as the conversation on the qualities of normin seraphim continued, only half listening. Atakk's unexpected appearance had caused a slew of irritatingly bittersweet memories to resurface.

Honestly.

Of all the things in her previous life here in this world, Velvet honestly would've never guessed that Bienfu would have been one of the things from her old life that she'd truly miss. Her brow furrowed as her thoughts began to wander, considering subjects that which she'd been purposefully avoiding thinking about.

Bienfu… could still be alive, she realized with a chill running up her spine.

Just as she had met Zaveid, there was a distinct possibility that that normin malak was still out there, being the perverted, spineless little dolt that he had always been. The things they could talk about. The things they could share… The bond they had was still intact, she was sure of it.

There could then be one other being in this world whom had traveled with her in the olden days. One of the few whom hadn't…

Velvet's expression darkened.

…No, she decided. It would be best if she didn't meet him at all.

In fact, the best-case scenario she could hope for would be that Bienfu had died long ago. That way, at least, she wouldn't be forced to confront the utterly unnerving notion of Bienfu living free from the service of his former mistress.

For while Bienfu might've lived this long, she was most definitely dead. She… and also…

Her fists tightened.

"…et? Velvet?"

The therion blinked, abruptly tearing herself from her swirling dark thoughts and finding the room empty, save for Sorey standing before her with a worried expression. "The rest of the group is headed out." He explained.

The Shepherd took a step closer, genuine concern in his eyes. "Velvet… is everything okay?" He asked gently.

Shaking her head harshly and pushing herself off the wall, Velvet waved off his concern.

"It's nothing." She dismissed. "Come on. Let's go."

With a strong, forceful stride, the woman forced herself forward and away from the monsters nipping at her heels. Worry still plain on his face, Sorey slowly followed after her out of the room.

As the footsteps of the group faded away, the large room of the old decrepit mansion returned back to silence, waiting for the cloud of disturbed dust dancing in the rays of soft sunlight from the windows to settle and cover its ancient floor once more.

Just another seemingly innocuous room in an ancient home filled with deep, cruel shadows.

----​

That night, the Shepherd left the city of Marlind, alone.

The bright yellow waning moon hung softly in the night sky as the young man made his way through the empty field in the outskirts of town, idly savoring the cool night breeze that blew in waves across the grassy sea. The air here was starkly crisp and fresh; completely free of the choking malevolence that blanketed the plague town. Sorey stopped in the middle of the field and let out a sigh, closing his eyes and focusing on the feeling of the cold night breeze playing with his flapping cloak.

Yet even now, in this starkly different environment, there was no hiding from the ominous thoughts plaguing his head. The growing anticipation was as a powerful leech; an all-encompassing vortex eagerly sucking away every other thought until the point at which every waking breath he took would be accompanied with feelings of dread and self-doubt.

Naturally, there was no rest to be had for the world's savior.

Sorey shook his head softly and vainly willed himself to think of matters other than the looming task before him. And yet, no matter what he did, the looming fight continued to hound his thoughts, leering at him from the dark corners of his mind.

It wasn't long, however, before he was jerked from his swirling thoughts by the sound of someone approaching him in the middle of the field. With their arrival, the world once more regressed into a boiling cauldron of swirling malevolence; a domain announcing the presence of an unimaginably powerful being.

The Shepherd turned and nodded his head in greeting towards the familiar figure of the masked hellion that had arrived across the field from him. "Hey there." He greeted, giving a small wave and a smile to the cloaked enigma. "Thanks for coming."

The hellion didn't respond, simply standing there in the center of its malevolence and stared back at him in what he had come to consider as characteristic silence.

Sorey scratched his head sheepishly and looked to the side. "Actually, before we begin… I have something to confess." His right hand habitually landed on his sheathed sword, idly drumming his fingers on the pommel as he tried to quantify the anxiety he was feeling. He glanced at the hellion's burning red eyes. "…I have to fight a dragon soon."

The hellion didn't blink.

"Well," Sorey corrected himself, "…a baby dragon. A drake, to be exact. The one that's circling over Marlind." His preoccupied eyes were drawn to the nearby silhouette of the Great Tree of Marlind to the west. "And, to be honest," he admitted softly, "I'm not really sure I'm ready to take on such a strong beast, even with the help of the others."

He glanced at the masked hellion. "…But I have to try, if I'm to save the people in Marlind from the plague of malevolence." He shook his head, profound determination seeping into his posture. "If I don't, even with the rest of the medicine arriving by cart over the Griflet River, the townspeople will continue to suffer. So that's why…"

He took a step forward. "I was hoping that you could help me out."

Silence fell in the wake of his statement. A cool night breeze blew once more, rustling the surrounding grass and punctuating the quiet.

Slowly, in response to Sorey's words, the hellion raised its pulsating claw and angled its open palm directly towards the Shepherd across the field from it.

Sorey blinked.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the world lit up for miles around as a huge, pulsating fireball was spontaneously conjured in the hellion's grasp, casting its cloaked figure in stark lighting as it took a step forward. Magma dripped from the raging inferno in its claw and fell to the ground below, igniting small grass fires that were trampled under the hellion's form as it approached him ominously, the fireball in its grasp growing and growing and growing.

Behind its mask, its evil blood-red eyes had narrowed sharply with the unmistakable intent of violence.

Finally gathering his wits, Sorey realized its intentions. He let out a shaky smile as he drew his sword and fell into a ready stance in response to its approach. "Okay." He let out a nervous chuckle. "I guess that works." He supposed.

With a soundless cry, the hellion pulled its arm back and thrust it violently forward, hurling the blazing inferno directly at him.

Cursing, Sorey dove to the side with a yelp, feeling the heat nearly scorch his back as the flames slammed into the ground directly behind him. Frantically, the Shepherd rolled on impact and forced himself into a stable crouch before he raised his sword up just in time to parry the hellion's massive claw as it descended upon him without pause.

CLANG!

Sparks flew as steel met claw as the weapons bounced off each other. Keenly aware of his opponent's might, Sorey took the first chance he had to leap off the ground and away from the hellion's range, readjusting his grip on his sword and slashing forward once more to keep it at bay.

To Sorey's surprise however, the hellion simply barred through his attack, allowing its claw to take the brunt of the sword slash and lunged forward, swiping at him with a level of fury he was unprepared for.

"GAH!"

The Shepherd let out an involuntary grunt as he landed, his entire body aching from the sheer force behind the claw that had sent him flying. Even as the pain ran up his spine, a part of him still recognized and deeply appreciated the fact that the hellion was undoubtedly holding back with every blow; a fact that he had become keenly aware of through painful trial and error.

It was chilling to consider how in reality, Sorey had absolutely no ideaof the full extent of the hellion's power. There was always that fear in the back of his head that one day, this monster would turn its claw upon him and his friends again, just like back by Ladylake. He knew, without a doubt, that despite how much they'd all grown, they wouldn't stand a chance against this enigmatic monster. He knew that he was playing with forces beyond his control.

Still, he supposed, there was no point in crying over spilt milk.

Shaking his head to clear the spots in his vision and to refocus himself, he scrambled to his feet before leaping to the side, just barely dodging an aggressive follow-up strike. The hellion's claw slammed onto the ground Sorey had just been lying on with terrifying force, drawing deep gouges into the grass and earth and shaking the ground itself with nothing but pure raw strength.

Despite being taken aback by the level of force the hellion had evidently seen fit to apply to this training session, Sorey capitalized on its miss and jabbed his sword forward, aiming straight for the hellion's center of mass while its claw was jammed into the earth.

His weapon met no resistance however, as the hellion kicked off the ground and used its claw as a pivot to catapult itself around and away from his attack. Without backing down, Sorey hounded after the hellion, using quick and short jabs to keep it on its toes.

And then the hellion leapt up inhumanly high into the air, far out of range of his sword strikes, and, while falling down in midair, angled its palm directly at him.

Sorey swore and dove forward.

BOOM!

The world lit up again in flames as a massive explosion detonated behind him, singing his cloak while setting the surrounding grass on fire. Recognizing the hellion's pattern of attack, Sorey was ready for it when it landed and charged at him. He leapt back, cleanly dodging its claw, and charged aggressively back in with his sword held powerfully at his hip in the wake if its attack.

"Tiger Blade!"

He let out a cry, jerking his sword upward while leaping high into the air. The slash connected hard on the back of the hellion's claw. Following through with the arte, Sorey gritted his teeth and pulled his arm back in midair before slashing downwards as he fell back down to earth, slamming his sword onto the hellion's claw with the full might of his attack having been made even stronger by gravity's assistance.

At the last second though, the monster leapt back, dodging the attack and regaining its footing, skidding in the ground and sending grass and dirt flying in its wake. Its body tensed, its head angling forward while its massive claw fell readily to its side.

Recognizing the signs of a charge, Sorey readied himself.

With a sudden explosion of movement, the hellion flew at him, raising its claw in preparation for a horizontal slash.

With a flash of inspiration, instead of dodging, Sorey improvised.

Preparing himself for the possible searing pain that would follow in the wake of failure, he readied his sword. When the claw flew at him, he acted. Gritting his teeth in determination, the Shepherd bent his whole body backwards, letting his torso fall almost parallel to the ground, hoping beyond hope that he'd bent back far enough.

He was rewarded with the sight of that horrifying claw sweeping mere inches over his chest, followed by a wave of utterly putrid malevolence that washed over him in its wake.

Closing his eyes and willing himself to follow through, Sorey let out a battle cry and jerked his sword upwards towards the body of the hellion.

And to his shock and horror, the attack connected.

The hellion had only been able to dodge the surprise counterattack partially, which had resulted in a clear gouge through its cloak. It only took seconds to recover however, using its claw to break its fall and allowing it to get back to its feet a few meters away from him.

Sorey's eyes were wide and horrified. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-!"

His apology came to a shuddering halt as the hellion gave him a simple nod. He blinked before belatedly recognizing the all-to-clear intent that was being conveyed to him.

He had done well.

After a moment, Sorey broke into a soft grin. "…Alright." He shifted on his feet, readjusting his grip on his sword. "Thanks, by the way." He added, nodding respectfully at the hellion. "For going hard on me tonight." His expression grew firm. "I need it, if I'm to stand a chance against that drake tomorrow." Sorey's grin grew determined. "Okay then. Let's go again!"

The hellion nodded once more.

And with that, the two parties burst into motion once more. Two actors performing a play underneath the waning moon in the night; one acting out the role of the hero, the other, the villain.

Sorey could only hope that it would be enough.

----​

"You got it! Normin power!"

Atakk's squeaky battle cry resounded through the dark night air, followed by a rush of pure mana that congregated on Sorey's armatized form. A bright shine of luminescent blue bloomed outwards as the power flowed through his body, augmenting the seraphic powers provided by Mikleo's presence. With careful movements, the armatized Shepherd began to draw his bow back, using his vantage point from the top of an empty house to sight in his shot.

The rest of the group watched the flow of power occur from down on the ground, holding their breaths. Alisha stood firm, determinedly readying herself for battle with her spear in hand. Lailah resided beside her with both hands held together in hopeful anticipation. Edna stood behind them both, her eyes fixed not on Sorey, but on the vague silhouette of the drake circling the vast tree high above them.

And behind them all stood Velvet, her eyes hard and her body ready for the battle to come.

This was it. There was no turning back from this point. She had done everything she could've done to prepare him for this. It was time for the Shepherd to show her what she was made of. And if he failed…

She shook her head, instead focusing on the scene before her with unwavering resolve. There was no point of worrying about it now.

Whatever happened next, happened.

With steady hands, Sorey fine-tuned his aim as he tracked the obscure form of the dragon as it circled around the tree once more in the light of the waning moon. He narrowed his golden-hued eyes, his expression one of pure concentration.

At his feet, Atakk strained, maintaining his powers and augmenting Mikleo's might. "Keee-ripes, that's some power…! I'll let ya know now, there's no way I can handle more than one shot!" He groaned.

Sorey's expression didn't change as he moved the bow slightly to the left, angling his body slightly to compensate for the adjustment. "One shot is enough."

There was no hesitation in his voice, Velvet was pleased to hear. Regardless of the obstacle between him and his goals, the Shepherd was determined to do whatever he needed to do to save the people from their suffering.

She watched on with a stiff jaw as Sorey lined up his sights, waiting in quiet anticipation for the battle to begin.

"Pardon me… Velvet?"

She turned to find Alisha walking up slowly to her side, her eyes fixed on Sorey's form. The princess glanced briefly at her, worry clear in her eyes. "Are you… nervous at all?" She asked quietly, her voice barely auditable over the thrumming of power in the air.

"I take it you are?" Velvet responded with a raised eyebrow, studying the princess's hunched demeanor and white-knuckled grip on her spear.

Alisha nodded honestly. "I am." She admitted, looking away from Velvet. "…I know I shouldn't be… but a part of me just doesn't feel… ready for this." She shook her head in consternation, gritting her teeth. "I've only just become Sorey's squire a few weeks ago! I… I worry that I might become a burden on the others during the fight."

Velvet looked away, up towards the night sky and towards the soaring drake high above. "…Do you think your master could take it down?" She asked.

Alisha blinked. "Huh?" When she had processed her words, the princess seemed to consider the question seriously. "Lady Maltran…"

She abruptly nodded, without hesitation. "…Absolutely." She put a fist on her chest. "She would have no problem at all taking that thing down." She stated firmly.

"Then you won't be a burden." Velvet stated. She waved a hand in response to the princess's incredulous look. "You said it yourself, right?" She reminded her. "Your goal is to one day be as strong as your master."

"That's true…" Alisha shook her head uncomprehendingly. "But… what I aspire to become says nothing about how I will perform in this battle tonight!"

"That's a lie." Velvet turned around, deathly serious.

Alisha almost felt the instinctive need to take a step back away from the sheer will radiating out from the traveler's form.

Velvet Davidson held her gaze firmly. "…If something puts itself in your way towards achieving your goals, know, in the deepest depths of your heart, that you'll do whatever it takes to overcome it." She declared in a low voice. "No matter what."

Idly, her gaze began to wander away from Alisha and towards the form of the dragon hunter atop the house behind the princess.

"That's all that matters, in the end." She whispered softly, almost inaudibly.

Somehow, Alisha knew that Velvet wasn't talking about her anymore.

Even so…

"…Thank you, Velvet." The princess smiled softly in the moonlight, her grip loosening on her spear as the fear in her body began to lessen in the wake of the woman's words. "You're right. If I cannot face this enemy, I have no right to call myself a student of Lady Maltran… and for that matter, a squire of Shepherd Sorey, or even a comrade of a woman such as yourself."

She nodded deeply, respectfully, holding her free hand to her chest. "All of you have chosen to place your trust in me. The very least I can do is to try and uphold that trust as best I can in the field of battle."

Velvet nodded quietly in the wake of the woman's words, impressed. "Good." She put simply.

CRACK!

All thoughts of conversation were eradicated the moment a streak of brilliant azure power flashed through the sky above like a shooting star casting off into the heavens. All eyes were on the arrow as it flew towards the moon, seemingly about to split the celestial body in two.

And then the silhouette of a dragon flew directly into its path and exploded in a violent bang of mana.

"…So, it begins." Velvet mumbled under her breath.

"Come on guys!" Sorey cried as he leapt off the roof and charged forward; a glowing streak of white slicing through a sea of darkness. "This is it!"

"…Right!"

The determination in Alisha's expression focusing acutely towards the task at hand, the princess charged forward as well, matching Sorey's pace as he stormed towards the downed dragon in the center of the field underneath the tree.

"Yeah, we're about to get eaten." Edna's dry remark rang out as the earth seraph ran forward as well, her outfit's ribbons trailing after her rushing form.

Velvet rolled her eyes and followed suit, digging her steel boots hard into the earth as she caught up with the rest of them.

Sorey glanced over his shoulder as she caught up, worry in his eyes. "Velvet." He breathed urgently. "If things look bad…"

"Don't worry about it." She cut him off with a shake of her head, keeping her eyes on the distant downed dragon as they approached it. "Focus on the battle. Nothing else." She ordered shortly.

The Shepherd blinked before nodding determinedly. "…Alright. Thanks. For all of your help." He added genuinely, turning back towards the task at hand.

Velvet did the same, directing her attention towards the form of the dragon as they neared it.

The drake had crashed hard enough to form a crater of grass and dirt at the base of the tree where it lay in a crumpled heap, its wings laying sprawled out all around it. On the right side of its belly was a brilliant open wound with Sorey's arrow still embedded deep in it, dripping copious amounts of purple blood and staining the grass below. With an enraged, feral roar, the monster lumbered to its feet and faced the humans and seraphim approaching it with raw draconic fury.

"Circle formation!" Alisha ordered shrilly, charging forward and taking point.

"Got it!" Velvet replied, branching off and heading towards the dragon's right flank.

"Do not hesitate! Strike true and swift!" Lailah urged, planting two feet shoulder-width apart and readying an arte with firm resolve in her eyes, preparing to support the Shepherd in battle.

Edna twirled her umbrella around and readied her own artes from behind the dragon. "That means try not to die out there, idiots!"

"Alright, everyone!" Sorey yelled, arcing around the left side of the dragon and drawing his bow at the same time. "Remember, we are here to do what needs to be done. NOW!"

At once, the Shepherd's group unleashed their own fury upon the weakened dragon.

BANG! CRASH! CRACK!

The world shook and the air went haywire with mana as the seraphim of the group unleashed their might upon the dragon. Jagged stalagmites jerked themselves out of the ground and impaled the strong scales of the monster while explosions of pure flame detonated on its wings. A piercing arrow accompanied by a furious torrent of water slammed onto its head, causing it to recoil with an angry roar.

Capitalizing upon the attacks, Alisha and Velvet made their moves and charged in, rushing their quarry from two different angles.

Only to be met with an open maw and a furious build-up of fire mana.

Velvet snapped her head to the side. "DOWN!" She roared before leaping to the side herself.

Alisha gasped and lunged out of the way in a clumsy roll, barely dodging the massive gout of flame that suddenly violently spewed out from the dragon's mouth and flew over her head.

FWOOM!

Edna cried out in pain as the force of the drake's expelled flames blew her away, sending the earth seraph tumbling in the grass away from the impact zone.

And with that, the dragon rallied furiously. Charging forward like a bull, it met Alisha head-on whereupon it lashed out with its massive claws. The princess leapt to the side and rolled to dodge both swipes before slinging around and scoring a deep cut on its right paw.

Hissing in pain, the monster whirled around, swinging its massive tail around. Alisha stood no chance of dodging and was cast bodily off and away.

"Agh!" She grunted as she rolled to a stop, determinedly getting her feet underneath her as she shook the stars from her vision.

That matter having been taken care of, the dragon abruptly flapped its wings with great strength, charging forward with a great burst of speed seemingly incompatible with its size and bulk directly towards Lailah.

CRACK!

Only to flinch and stumble as its shoulder was grazed by another powerful piercing arrow sent by Sorey.

Seething in fury, the massive monster took in a massive breath.

Sorey's eyes widened. Within moments, the armatized Shepherd leapt desperately to the side as a torrent of flame blasted the air he had just been occupying. Flames littered the field in the wake of the dragon's unholy breath.

Without pause, the monster capitalized on the distraction and swept its hind leg around, slamming it straight into Lailah's abdomen.

With a wordless cry, the fire seraph was sent tumbling backwards from the utterly devastating force the blow had delivered, her breathing ragged and uneven as she fell to the ground.

"Lailah!" Sorey cried in horror.

"Sorey!" Mikleo's voice rang out urgently. "This is bad! We have to end this soon!"

With a determined grunt, the armatized young man stumbled back to his feet and raised his bow once more with gritted teeth and a clenched jaw. "…Take this!" He cried, forcing a massive amount of mana into his weapon. With a gentle release of three of his right fingers, he let the attack fly.

"AZURE ASSAULT!"

An enormous, overwhelming swarm of water projectiles blasted out from his bow, directed straight at the dragon turning ominously towards him.

Then, with a powerful flap of its wings, the dragon launched itself clean into to the night sky. The attack missed entirely, uselessly burying itself in a distant copse of trees.

Sorey's heart sank.

"SOREY!"

BANG!

"GYAAAAH!" Sorey couldn't help but scream as the full weight of the dragon itself slammed directly onto him as it landed back on the earth, crushing him with its right claw. The sheer force alone was enough to disrupt the mental connection and dispel the Armatus, leaving him in a helpless human form, held hostage by the enormous hellion leering at him from above.

Sorey sucked in a breath and his heart froze. He was done for.

"Oh no you don't!"

And like a vengeful spirit, Velvet descended upon the dragon with her blade extended.

SHINK!

With a loud, horrible squelch, the woman's sword sank deep into the soft flesh at the base of the dragon's neck as she landed on top of its back, eliciting a violent flurry of writhing and shaking as the dragon forgot about Sorey and instead began bucking and squirming in agony at the feeling of cold steel invading its warm flesh.

Sorey sucked in a massive, painful breath as the dragon's weight left him, struggling to his knees as he watched in utter astonishment.

And then, the dragon fell into a roll. Velvet barely had the time to sheath her sword and leap off before she was crushed, tumbling gracelessly into the grass. Without pause, the dragon recovered from its roll and slashed its claw at the exhausted woman getting to her feet.

She didn't stand a chance.

Her cry of agony grated on Sorey's ears as she fell to the ground, a single, terrifyingly large gash cutting through the back of her black coat and searing right over her spine.

Sorey watched, frozen in shock and disbelief at what had happened.

Velvet… had risked her life to save his own.

He looked around, shell-shocked, his sword held limply in his hands. Edna, Lailah, Alisha, Mikleo… Velvet. All of them. They had all risked their lives for him, for the Shepherd.

His gaze rose to meet the furious dragon's eyes as it began to lumber towards him under the watchful eye of the waning moon. A predator about to pounce on its helpless prey.

Pure terror flashed in his expression.

----​

Blood seeping out of her mouth, Velvet barely had the strength to painfully turn her head and watch helplessly as the dragon approached the frozen Shepherd at an almost leisurely pace. It knew that he was beaten.

And it was right.

Velvet let her head drop tiredly back down into the grass as she stared up into the stars, blocking out the sound of the thunderous footsteps as she reluctantly accepted what was about to happen.

Sorey was going to die.

Her jaw clenched from emotions that had nothing to do with the pain coursing through her body.

Despite it all; his apparent never-yielding determination to help others, the steadfast support of and reliance on his friends, the training she herself had given him under the guise of an enigmatic hellion mentor, the advice she had imparted onto him in the guise of a resonant traveler; all of it didn't change the fact that he was simply too weak. Too weak a tool to wield for her plans.

Too weak to save her Phi.

For she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that a Shepherd who could not best a mere Drake despite all the odds favoring him, could never best the Lord of Calamity even if he trained for the next thousand years; especially when the current one was also wielding a hellionized God. There would be no way that he could ever save Phi if he could not best even this minor obstacle.

It was just that simple, however much it burned her to acknowledge it.

She had accepted the possibility when the battle started; that if Sorey failed here, he would fail. There would be no saving him.

And he had failed.

Now, he would have to face the consequences of that failure.

Her fists clenched.

There would always be another one, naturally. Always another Shepherd to be born; always another tool to be picked up. Velvet would be there, always, right behind them, no matter how long she had to wait. She would wait until the end of time itself if need be, until the day finally came when she had finally found a Shepherd strong enough to accomplish the task she needed to use them for.

For Sorey was no longer an option.

She slowly closed her eyes and patiently awaited the falling of the headsman's axe.

----​

Then, all of a sudden, Mikleo's words, uttered long ago, spontaneously came to him.

"You're more important that all of us combined." He had stated simply. "That's just how it is."

Sorey's fists clenched harshly.

"…All of you… Believe in me so much." He muttered lowly, sinking his boots into the floor as he raised his eyes defiantly towards the approaching dragon.

Their faces flashed behind his eyes. The faces of all his friends. They had believed in him so much as the Shepherd. They had trusted him when he had led them into this battle. They had followed his every decision, believing in his ability to do what was right for all.

"I suppose… there really is no choice, in the end." He chuckled humorlessly as he gripped his sword with both hands, tensing his tired and beaten muscles as the monster neared. He glanced briefly at the sprawled form of Velvet Davidson lying by the base of the tree before returning his gaze onto his opponent's.

"…I have to do what needs to be done." He growled lowly.

The dragon let out an earth-shaking roar.

The Shepherd stood firmly before the monster, his cloak billowing in the wake of the monster's bellow. "COME ON!" He yelled back.

With a final, furious roar, the dragon lunged.

Then, as if it were completely natural for him, Sorey pivoted his torso backwards and let the dragon's right claw sweep over him. The world went dark as it was obscured by the dragon's massive claw as it passed within millimeters of his torso. He felt a harsh gust of wind as the attack passed over him; proof of how close the attack had come to rending his body into a pile of blood.

Exactly like before.

And then, without hesitation, Sorey wrenched his sword up. The same way he had done it last time.

Directly into the open arrow wound in the dragon's belly.

SQUELCH!

A howl of pure agony flooded the world as the dragon unexpectedly tumbled onto the ground, writhing and thrashing in pure agony. Grass and dirt were torn up and flung high into the night sky as the hellion kicked its feet and slammed its wings into anything and everything in a vain attempt to mitigate the searing pain in its gut.

Grunting as he got to his feet, with steel determination in his expression, Sorey began to run towards the dragon, his sword held at his side bursting into brilliant blue flames. With righteous fury in his eyes, the Holy Shepherd lunged towards the monster.

"HYAAAAAAH!" He cried, sinking the blazing sword directly into the dragon's head.

BOOM!

The world became one of silver fury as the dragon's body became engulfed in violent explosions of power. Sorey roared as he pumped all of his power into the vessel, forcing every last speck of cruel malevolence away.

The crumbling state of Marlind. The people who were sick. The people whom had died. The very being that had become a dragon in the first place. The suffering of his friends. All of it; all of it could be fixed by his hands, and his hands alone. Because he was the Shepherd.

He'd be damned if he didn't at least try his best.

With that thought, the Shepherd closed his eyes and forced every last drop of his being into his task.

FWOOM!

With one last final detonation, the purification of the scourge of Marlind was completed. Before him, in the place of a horrific monster, laid the innocent unconscious body of a wizened seraph in a patch of burnt grass. Gasping for breath, Sorey crumpled to his knees before the seraph, his entire body shaking with adrenaline and fatigue.

Through the ringing in his ears, he was surprised to hear the soft clinking of metal in the silence that followed.

Sorey turned his head and found Velvet, clearly injured and in pain, standing steadily behind him with wide eyes. "…You did it." She breathed quietly, the words nearly lost in the wind.

He gave a shallow nod in the silence. "Yeah."

He gave her an honest, wholly grateful smile. "And it's all thanks to all of you." He got back to his feet with a grunt, giving Velvet a nod of boundless gratitude. "Thank you, Velvet. For saving my life back there." He intoned genuinely. "There was no way I could've done it without you. Really."

Velvet smiled softly back. "Don't worry about it."

Her hands were rolled into tight fists by her sides.

"AHHHHHHH!"

Suddenly, a terrible scream rang out over the wind. The unmistakable, bone-chilling high-pitched cry of a terrified child crying out for help. Sorey and Velvet both jerked their heads in that direction at once, their bodies tensing.

Behind them, Edna's labored voice rang out.

"You two, get going!"

Sorey turned around with worried eyes as he took in the seraph applying gels to the wounded group members lying around the battlefield. "You sure?" He called back anxiously, torn between the injured forms of his friends and the yelling and shouting coming from across town.

"Go!" Edna ordered harshly.

Exchanging a nod, Velvet and Sorey broke into a labored sprint towards where the horrible noise had come from. Panting, the two of them ran through the deserted streets of Marlind with the waning moon at their backs. The decreased levels malevolence from the drake's absence did nothing to dispel the looming atmosphere of doom plaguing the town. The closer they got, the louder the screams were.

And then all of a sudden, a single man's cry of pure agony split across the night sky before it was abruptly cut short.

The world went quiet.

Sorey and Velvet exchanged looks and hurriedly sped up their pace, regardless of their aching bodies. There was no denying that something horrible had just happened. Their footsteps rang out deafeningly in the silence as they approached.

They arrived to find horrifying scene in the middle of a crossroads in town.

Terrified civilians looked on at a safe distance as a group of armored guards battled off against a rabid wolf hellion; one whose fur had been marred with countless wounds and was clearly on its last leg of battle. The Hyland guards, on the other hand, were ruthless in their efficiency as they used their long-reaching spears to trap the rabid dog in the middle of their circle formation, protecting the other citizens and preventing it from running away.

And then, right in front of Sorey and Velvet's eyes, one of the guards at the hellion's broadside lunged forward and impaled the hellion straight through the heart. Blood squirted noisily as the steel sank deeply into its body.

It died instantly on the spot, falling limp right there in the middle of the crossroads.

Sorey's eyes bulged in horror. "No-!" He began, taking a step forward.

And then he choked.

By his side, Velvet froze.

An old man laid there at the steps of the house in front of the crosswalks, his throat torn clean out.

Over his corpse kneeled an aged elderly woman, sobbing profusely and utterly ignoring the commotion with the dog in favor of mourning the violent, horrific death of her husband.

It was the old man whom had told her not to kill the hellion she'd saved him from. The hellion that had, in the end, torn off the hand that had offered to feed it.

In the crowd, a small girl began to wail in a putrid mix of terror and horror. Her shaking body was covered entirely in congealed blood, being ineffectually wiped off by her sobbing mother as she held her daughter in shocked disbelief. Standing between them and the dog's corpse was the daughter's father with pure protective rage etched in his features.

"Just what the hell was that old fool thinking?!" The father shouted angrily into the night, glaring at the dead body with utter revulsion at the deceased man's actions. "Walking around the village with that rabid animal?!"

"That's enough out of you!" Snapped the lead guard, who wore the insignia of a sergeant, placing his boot on the deceased dog's back to yank his spear out. As the blade withdrew from the animal's flesh, blood cascaded out of the now open wound, streaming down the mangled fur and onto the cobbled road below where it began to form a crimson puddle.

Shaking his head harshly, the sergeant who had delivered the killing blow took a moment to regain his breath as he took in the results of his handiwork before turning to glare at the enraged father whom he'd just rebuked. "Fool or not," he growled, "that's his wife right there." He jabbed a finger right at the woman sobbing quietly over the corpse. "If you won't show respect for the dead, at least show it to her for pity's sake!"

The father let out a disdainful scoff, spitting on the floor with crossed arms. "That old bastard's getting no respect from me, nor from anyone in this whole town if I have anything to say about it!" He declared spitefully. "His stupidity near killed by precious daughter!"

He threw his hands into the air, taking an aggressive step forward. "Just look at her!She'll be traumatized for life! How the hell can you even expect me to respect the bastard who did that to my baby?!" He screamed.

All the while, the old man's wife just continued to wail hysterically.

The sergeant let out a rough sigh, shaking his head once more. "…I understand your anger, sir." He conceded placatingly. He gestured with his bloody spear at the bleeding corpse on the cobblestones. "But your daughter's safe now and the beast is dead." He pointed out. "And as for the old man…"

He turned to face the corpse lying on the cobblestones being silently mourned by the old woman with a sigh. "…He's already more than paid the price for his mistake, wouldn't you say?" He muttered soberly.

Idly, he glanced around at the rest of the townsfolk gathered around the bloody scene. Mixed emotions filled the crowd. Many appeared to agree with the irate father, while some seemed to sympathize with the elderly wife. Others evidently had no idea at all how to react to the tragedy.

The sergeant abruptly shook his head, suddenly utterly tired of it all.

He waved his free hand towards the crowd. "…Enough." He ordered firmly, putting an end to the whispering and muttering. "The situation's been handled. Everyone, go back home. Now."

The people began to comply, slowly heading back home in groups through the night. Doubtless, the town would be filled with gossip and heated debate in the morning regarding the old man's actions.

The sergeant glanced over his shoulder at the rest of the guards as the crowd slowly dissipated. "…Come on, fellas." He muttered. "First round's on me tonight."

A chorus of assent resounded dully from the rest of the armored men.

The head guard took one last look at the corpse of the human on the ground and the wife mourning it, shook his head one more time, and left, taking his blood-stained spear with him as he did so.

Meanwhile, the once-incensed father had turned his back to the scene, kneeling down before his trembling daughter and embracing her tenderly all the while whispering soft, comforting words in her ear. Gently, carefully, the man softly gathered the bloodied girl up in his hands and lifted her in his loving embrace, keen pain clear on his face. He met his wife's eyes and nodded softly. Together, the family turned their backs to the bloodied scene and trotted hurriedly off into the darkness, back home.

Hoping beyond hope that they would somehow be able to recover from all that had happened.

As the rest of the spectating civilians departed the bloodied crossroads, Sorey and Velvet stood there, watching the kind, foolish old man's loving wife sob and tremble over the body of her loved one, now all alone with nothing but an empty house.

Without another word, Velvet turned on her heel and left.

"…Velvet?" Sorey asked softly as she left.

She ignored him.

Without pause, the therion stalked right off into the darkness towards the exit of town, her eyes dark and hard.

She was the same.

She was the one who would unflinchingly turn on those around her if it suited her needs. She was a monster just like that wolf hellion. One who had been willing to cast off Sorey's life as if he were nothing but a mere tool. All the while she had pretended to be his companion; his friend.

Lies. Lies. Lies.

In the end, it was all fake. All of it was unnatural. Any laughs shared, any genuine moments had, any bonds formed; all of it was just a series of paper-thin distractions to hide the true evil boiling within her being. For everything was expendable to a monster such as her.

And that was how it had always been.

That was how it was. That was how it would always be. It was just the natural way of things. She was just acting with accordance with her own nature.

The nature of a monster.

It was just that simple.

Malevolence beginning to overflow from her very being, the lone woman stalked eagerly into the darkness and away from town; towards a place where nobody else would get hurt by a monster like her.

And in the wake of the tragedy that had befallen the town, silence fell once more under the watchful eye of the waning moon.

----​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 8 - Scarlet.

A distant howl rang out into the darkness, resounding into the untamed grassy fields surrounding the quiet city of Marlind. A chorus of responding cries echoed the howl from a distance; a pack of wolves communicating with one of their own.

Sorey sat by himself near the edge of a small cliff on the outskirts of Marlind, his eyes hard as he listened to the feral calls intruding upon the calm tranquility of the night. A light gust of wind blew and rustled his clothes and the leaves on the trees behind him, tickling his face and keeping him awake.

He hadn't been able to sleep well ever since what had happened yesterday morning.

The Shepherd stared off towards the direction of town, idly observing the patterns of torches and lamps visible in the darkness and trying to discern major thoroughfares and landmarks from them. Regardless of whatever he did to occupy his thoughts, the images just kept on appearing in his mind, as they had been doing throughout the day.

The torn-out throat. The blood on the cobblestones. The body of the slain hellion riddled with spear wounds.

He let out a grunt, massaging his temples softly as he sat up in his cross-legged position, trying in vain to force the thoughts plaguing his mind away.

Snap!

He blinked, registering the snapping of a twig behind him. A tell-tale noise he knew for a fact had been intentionally made to make him aware of its presence. Naturally, he'd known that it would've only been a matter of time until the masked hellion found him.

The powerful, enigmatic monster that was teaching him how to fight.

Without turning around, Sorey tilted his head up towards the stars as the hellion's malevolence began to seep into the air, closing his eyes.

"…We beat the drake." He announced softly. "It was a close call, but we all made it out okay in the end. And it's all thanks to your help."

He turned his head over his shoulder to glance at the familiar cloaked form of the hellion standing motionlessly behind him and gave it a nod, his eyes distant.

"But… something else happened that night." He muttered, looking away from the hellion's form and into the distance. "Something horrible."

Blood. Screaming. Wailing.

Sorey's jaw stiffened. "…My friends tell me that hellions are all evil. Mindless beasts founded upon the worst emotions of all living things." He remarked, idly examining his gloved hand and the emblem emblazoned upon it. "And for a long time, I had no reason to think otherwise."

"What I saw last night was… undeniably evil." He shook his head, the images refusing to leave his mind. "It was jarring, to say the least." He muttered.

Slowly, the Shepherd got to his feet and turned around, facing the hellion fully with the waning moon at his back. He met its burning hot red eyes and held its gaze.

"…But I suppose that just goes to show how sheltered I was."

The silence was punctuated by another soft breeze, rustling the sparse grass between the hellion and its mortal enemy.

Sorey abruptly grunted, reaching down to his hip and sliding his sword out of its sheath, falling into a ready position. He gave the monster across the clearing from him a sharp nod, narrowing his eyes and preparing himself for the next lesson. "…Shall we begin?" He prompted softly, holding the hellion's gaze. It stared back at him silently.

And then, all of a sudden, it tensed its body and vanished into thin air.

The beating of his heart quickly picking up speed with the recognition of the impending fight, Sorey took the few precious moments before the inevitable assault to distance himself from the cliff by breaking into a sprint towards the dense tree line in front of him.

The lightest unnatural touch of disturbed air on his neck was his only warning.

A hurried grunt escaping his lips, Sorey immediately dove to the right without breaking his stride, barely dodging the hellion as it crashed hard claw-first into the earth exactly where he would've been had he kept running. Forcing himself through his roll and keeping his sword held at a safe distance so as not to slice himself, he barreled back to his feet, knowing that keeping his wits about him and maintaining his mobility and agility would be key if he intended to battle such a terrifyingly strong adversary. One that far outclassed him in every conceivable manner.

CLANG!

His sword and its claw met in a brilliant exchange of sparks as they slid smoothly off each other thanks to the canted angle of Sorey's parry. Smartly pivoting on his feet, Sorey feinted right before leaping to the left, effectively avoiding a follow-up sweep of the claw. "Hah!" He yelled, sweeping down low and driving his sword towards the hellion's ankles, cutting grass in the process.

His sword received no resistance as the monster leapt up and to the side, out of reach of his blade. Following through smoothly with the missed slice, Sorey kept up the offensive, swinging around and harrying the monster with short jabs to which it responded with backward leaps and upward jumps, easily avoiding each attack.

Sorey abruptly pivoted on the ball of his right foot, swinging his entire body around and slashing his blade with his arm fully outstretched in an attempt to encompass the hellion's entire range of motion and force it to move back.

"Gah!" Sorey yelped as he abruptly found himself utterly empty-handed.

He blinked in astonishment as he registered that the hellion had simply chosen to slam its claw into his arm, causing his sword to go flying out of reach. Without hesitating, the hellion swung its arm around and dug its claw deep into the earth behind it, tensing its body.

Sorey didn't stand a chance as it flung its claw high up and into the heavens, casting him bodily with it. Hissing with the pain ringing through his body, the Shepherd tried to orient himself in the darkness as he fell, trying to get his feet below him for the landing. He blinked in shock again as he registered two glowing red eyes and an open, raised claw rising up to meet him.

CRASH!

"AGH!" Sorey let out an involuntary yelp as he was violently smashed downwards and into the dirt, his bones rattling in his body with the impact. Shaking his head harshly, Sorey abruptly pushed off the ground and to the left, rolling away from where he'd landed. His decision turned out to be prudent just a few seconds later when the hellion slammed its claw down and onto the dirt where he'd been laying with a furious degree of force and sending particles of dirt high into the sky.

"W-whoa!" Sorey exclaimed as he leapt to his feet, taking no chances and breaking into a break-neck pace away from the rampaging hellion and towards the forest, making as much distance as humanly possible away from it. "We're not messing around tonight, I take it?!" He yelped.

"Ack!" He abruptly ducked instinctively as he ran, dodging a flying claw that appeared above his head by a hair. The claw instead smashed into a nearby tree and utterly destroyed it, sending the medium-sized trunk hurtling downwards into the earth with a ponderous groan. Sorey shot a look over his shoulder with wide eyes, watching the hellion roughly tug its claw from the remains of the fallen tree and glare at him with its piercing red eyes. He shuddered and ran faster, digging his heels in and weaving in between the trees in an effort to conceal himself from the predator keen on his scent.

"Weapon… weapon! I need something to fight back with!" Sorey breathed as he ran, weaving in and out of the trees and trying his damndest to not trip and fall. He shot a look to the right and briefly scanned the field outside of the forest for the glint of his fallen sword; he was decidedly helpless without it.

SMASH!

He came to a skidding halt, however, as four trees in front of him exploded in wooden shrapnel, revealing a cloaked form charging out inexplicably through the shadows and towards him like an assassin in the night. "Damn!" He grunted and pivoted to the left, using the closest oak tree for cover.

BANG!

The world trembled as a sudden red-hot explosion lit up the night, scorching the surrounding trees and utterly decimating the oak tree Sorey had ducked behind for cover.

Lowering its smoking claw in the aftermath of the arte it had cast, the masked hellion slowly advanced towards the charred remains of the oak tree, its claw held dangerously at its side, keenly listening for any movement.

Ashes crunched under its feet as it neared the blast zone, its figure silhouetted ominously by the small residual flames dotting the area.

With precise movements, it raised its claw directly to the burnt trunk of the tree.

BANG!

Another explosion erupted right in front of it, utterly obliterating the remains of the tree and with it, any semblance of cover the Shepherd might've had. Burnt and charred bark rained down all around the hellion as it stood there silently, waiting for the smoke to clear and watching for its prey.

Its red-hot eyes narrowed dangerously as it registered footsteps charging towards it.

"Take this!"

With a fierce battle cry, the Shepherd charged through the smoke, a fierce determination etched on his soot-marked face as he swung something at it. The hellion raised its claw to block instinctively as the broad swing neared.

It hissed angrily as a searing sensation ran up the nerves in the back of its claw, causing it to recoil backwards and away, though more out of surprise than pain. It blinked, belatedly registering that its prey had dropped the weapon he had attacked with the instant it had impacted before running away.

The long piece of burning bark Sorey had used as a makeshift torch-club laid innocuously at its feet, still burning slightly on one end.

Narrowing its eyes at having effectively been distracted, the hellion charged quickly after Sorey, leaping inhumanly swiftly through the tree trunks and towards the sounds of his footsteps, which were now coming from outside the forest. The moment it burst through the tree line; it was ambushed.

"I won't lose that easily!"

The Shepherd unleashed a furious assault upon his unsuspecting opponent as he attacked it with his newly recovered sword. Left jabs, right jabs, feints, parries, stabs, lunges; he used every trick he had under his belt to capitalize upon his advantage and drive the hellion backwards.

His efforts, however, went unrewarded as the monster smoothly counteracted a particularly hasty stab by once more slamming its claw into his outstretched arm and once more throwing his sword far into the distance, disarming him yet again.

In the blink of an eye, Sorey had gone from pressing his attack to coming to an utter stand still with a cold, dreadfully sharp demonic claw pressed right up against the flesh of his exposed neck.

His wide eyes met the hellion's as the two maintained that stance; one utterly silent and enigmatic and holding a deadly appendage at the other's neck as he gasped for breath on shaky, adrenaline-filled legs; his hands utterly empty and hanging uselessly at his sides. A cool breeze blew, rustling the trees behind them in the wake of the fight's conclusion. High up in the sky, the spectating moon continued to watch, basking the scene in soft yellow light.

With slow movements, the hellion slowly removed the lethal claw from the Shepherd's jugular and let it dangle at its left side once more, watching him as unnervingly and as silently as always as he recovered from the fight.

Sorey let out a massive breath now that the claw was no longer hovering over his neck and bent over in exhaustion, panting with his hands on his knees. "Hah…! Not… too bad, right?" He breathed, slowly straightening his aching spine and looking up.

He blinked when he realized he was utterly alone.

All around him, the traces of malevolence were fading with the wind, proving that the hellion had in fact truly left. All that remained in its wake was the damage that had been dealt to the surrounding land and trees in the wake of the violence. In the absence of the howling winds of its domain, the calm, soft winds of the night filled the silence once more.

Pursing his lips, Sorey jerked himself out of his surprise and turned on his heel, headed towards the general direction where his disarmed sword had flown. Once again, Sorey found himself utterly befuddled at the enigma that was the masked hellion.

Thanks to the training it had given him, he had managed to defeat the drake, and he had also become much more adept at fighting hellions in general. Through grueling trial and error in their nightly training sessions, he had begun to develop skills essential to supporting his swordplay and his overall efforts in battle with the rest of his friends.

…But why?

Sorey shook his head in befuddlement as he approached his sword glinting innocently in the moonlight in the grass close to the tree line. Bending down to reach it, Sorey let out a hiss as the newly-formed bruises on his body angrily let their presences be known while he picked it up.

It had gone really unusually hard on him this night. And he had no idea why. He'd have to use more than a fair amount of gels to try and hide his newly-formed bruises, lest his friends start asking questions he really didn't know how to answer.

Idly, his gaze wandered off towards the outlying fields wreathed in moonlight. The distant howling of wolves had ceased, but the cries still resounded loud as ever within his memories. His smile faded, his eyes growing serious as the events of last night flashed once more in his thoughts.

"Hellions… huh?" He muttered under his breath.

Monsters capable of great evil. Monsters borne of evil emotions whose only purpose was to induce more of the same hateful malice in humans and seraphim. Monsters whose very nature drove them to commit such repulsive acts.

At least… that was what he had been led to believe.

He glanced over his shoulder, a serious expression on his face as he thought back to his past interactions with the masked hellion.

It just didn't fit.

"…Just who the heck are you?" He breathed quietly, closing his eyes in befuddlement and envisioning the shape of the familiar, cold steel mask in his mind. A mask that served to frame those two, fear-inducing crimson eyes. Those eyes held malice; of that fact, Sorey had no doubts.

And yet, there was no mistaking the intelligence behind them as well; no mistaking the brilliant fire burning in its gaze. Something drove it to act in this manner, Sorey knew; there was a goal in its mind that motivated its actions towards him. As for what that something was, Sorey had not the slightest idea.

All he could tell was that it had evidently decided that empowering the Shepherd was the way to achieve what it wanted.

Sorey shifted on his feet in deep contemplation. "What… do you want?" He mumbled into the night air. "And what exactly do I have to do with it…?"

The empty silence was the lone Shepherd's only response.

"…Ah, well."

He let out a wry chuckle, rolling his shoulder and gingerly sheathed his sword, letting it click back into place at his hip. Glancing over his shoulder at the remains of the battle scene, he let out a nonchalant shrug laced with pain, a small, accepting smile on his lips.

"There's no real point in getting too worked up about it I guess." He figured brightly. With a concise turn on his heel, he faced the path downward and back towards Marlind. "Things will sort themselves out in the end, I'm sure of it."

And with that decision in mind, the Shepherd dusted off his hands and headed on back to town, the training session having run its course for the night. Behind him, the empty cliff face stood silently in the moonlight; motionless and foreign.

---​

Sorey let out a ponderous yawn, stretching out his tired muscles and blinking blearily in the bright sunlight pouring in through the leaves of the Great Tree of Marlind high, high above town. Cradled gently in his arms was his well-worn copy of the Celestial Record, glowing happily in the sun. He lounged back in the deck chair, closing his eyes and savoring the feeling of the sun on his skin and trying to ignore the diminished yet still ever-present cloud of malevolence hanging above the town.

With the purification of the drake two nights before, the malevolence in Marlind had decreased greatly. However, it seemed that the Shepherd's work in the plague town was not quite done yet.

"Not sleeping well?"

His eyes blinked open at the familiar voice. A quick tilt of the head revealed the form of Velvet Davidson as she sauntered up to him, an eyebrow raised and a hand on her hip.

Idly rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Sorey put on his most energetic smile and sat up in the deck chair respectfully. "It's not bad. I think it might be because my body's still healing from the battle with the drake." He suggested casually, dodging the issue.

Velvet traversed the wooden planks of the deck and leant on the sunbaked iron and wood railing opposite Sorey's chair, crossing her arms and nodding in response. "You doing alright?" She prompted, gesturing at him with her bandaged arm. "That battle came pretty close."

Sorey shook his head. "I'd be more worried about you." Concern was clear on his face as he leant forward, his elbows on his knees. "What you did back then… it was incredible." He expressed genuinely, thinking back to the hardened woman's heroic actions in distracting the dragon to prevent it from killing him. He winced as he thought back to how much blood had been seeping out the back of the woman's coat at the end of it.

Waving his sentiment off, Velvet dismissed, "All of us were in rough shape by the end of that night; let's just leave it at that." She settled in her seat on top of the railing and glanced off idly towards the center of town. "It looks like everyone's been recovering just fine, though."

"Are they all over in the park talking to Rohan and Atakk right now?" Sorey asked curiously, gently stowing away his copy of the Celestial Record in his pack at the foot of his chair.

She nodded. "It looks like Rohan's finally recovered to the point where he can attempt to discern the whereabouts of this hellion that's preventing him from becoming the Lord of the Land. They should be back soon with news shortly."

The Shepherd nodded deeply, putting a hand up to his chin in thought. "…Alisha really impressed him, didn't he?" He remarked contemplatively. "From the moment we purified him from being a drake, she's been nothing but respectful and honest with him." He shook his head in amazement. "She's been working so hard, lately. Not to mention how on top of interacting with Rohan, she's been helping out so much in the sanctuary, despite her injuries." He gave Velvet a shrug. "I suppose it just goes to show how dedicated she is to being a proper princess of the people." He supposed. "It's really impressive."

Velvet let out an exasperated sigh in response. "I did tell her to take it easy and rest for a day or two before running around. Fat load of good that did." She muttered resentfully.

Sorey grinned wryly. "See? She's even willing to disobey your orders to do what she thinks is best for the people." He pointed out brightly. "That's quite the accomplishment."

She gave him a dry look in response. "…And what's that supposed to mean, exactly?" She asked pointedly, raising an eyebrow.

The Shepherd balked. "Oh! N-nothing." He waved his hands dismissively with a disarming grin.

Velvet let out a mild huff in response, looking away.

For a while, the two of them simply stayed there, enjoying the sunlight for what it was worth; a brief spell of relaxation before they set off once more on their journey. All around them, birds chirped and fluttered in the air. High up above, the massive tree of Marlind stood, its leaves and branches shifting gently in the breeze. A rare flavor of tranquility fell upon their surroundings in the deck of the local inn, with not a single other human in sight.

Slowly, a monotonous, steady rattling sound began to approach from the side, drawing their attention to the paved road running past the deck of the inn.

"Ho there! Shepherd!"

Sorey abruptly broke into a grin at the familiar voice, jumping out of his chair and trotting up to the railings next to Velvet as three covered horse carts rounded the corner, their wooden wheels squeaking noisily alongside the rhythmic clopping of horse hooves on stone as the animals were guided by their handlers through town. Men and women in distinctive merchant clothing trotted easily alongside the carts on both sides, chatting amicably amongst themselves and taking in the sights of the town as they walked.

Sorey's grin widened as he immediately recognized the tall, well-groomed older man holding the reigns of the lead cart, raising a hand in greeting. "Eguille!" He called back. "What are you all doing here?" He asked curiously, taking in the entirety of the guild of Sparrowfeathers in all its splendor as the merchants rolled into town.

"Business, of course." Eguille replied as the horses drawing his cart slowly came to a stop in front of the inn with his well-practiced handling of the reigns, giving Sorey a nod of greeting before leaning to the right and calling out to the rest of his guild. "Alright everyone! Take a breather here!" He called, his distinctive voice instantly drawing the voice of every Sparrowfeather in the convoy. "We make for the Sanctuary in half an hour!"

"You got it, Captain!" Came a familiar feminine voice in response.

With nimble movements, a redheaded merchant leapt out the back of the second stopped cart, dusting her hands and letting out a breath as she surveyed the scene with her hands on her hip. "Whew!" She breathed.

She abruptly caught on to Sorey's face watching them from the deck, a bright smile forming on her face. "Oh, hey there!" She greeted the Shepherd cheerily with a two-fingered salute. "Saw what you did with the bridge! You're a superstar!"

Sorey let out a soft chuckle, shifting on his feet in response. "It… it wasn't anything special, really." He eventually decided on as a response, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

She raised an eyebrow up at the Shepherd on the deck, tilting her head curiously. "Nothing special?" She asked in disbelief. The redheaded merchant abruptly shook her head, dismissing the matter. "Well, never mind about that. Ya know, it's a good thing we ran into you here."

Sorey cocked his head to the side. "How's that?"

The merchant held up a single finger in response and lithely kicked off the ground, lightly pushing her right boot in between the wooden railing of the deck before pushing off that as well and hopping clean over the railing. She landed primly before the Shepherd with a light thunk, a crisp document in one hand and a pen in the other.

"I need you to sign this." She explained brightly, offering both items to him.

He blinked, squinting at the text written on the proffered form.

"What's this all about?"

Sorey blinked, abruptly remembering Velvet's presence as she walked up to the two of them with a curious expression. "Oh hey! That's right!" He popped a closed fist in his palm as he turned to Velvet, gesturing at the redheaded merchant with a smile. "Velvet, this is Rose, of the Sparrowfeathers. Rose, this is Velvet. She's been travelling with us ever since we left Ladylake." He introduced brightly.

Rose tilted her head and saluted Velvet with a bright expression. "Nice to meetcha."

Velvet gave the redhead a nod in return. "Who are the Sparrowfeathers?" She asked curiously, laying a hand on her hip.

"They're a group of trading merchants that travel the continent doing business." Sorey explained. "They helped us a lot out back in Ladylake. They're real nice people!"

"Real savvy people at that!" Rose added cheekily, giving Velvet a grin. "Remember, if you need quality service at quality prices, the Sparrowfeather have your back."

Velvet waved a lofty hand in response. "So, what you mean to say is you only have my back if I give you money, right?" She pointed out. "Otherwise, I'm on my own?"

At her comment, Sorey winced.

"Well, duh!" Rose drawled easily with a grin. "How else would you expect us to make a profit and keep on travelling? We're not a pack of idiots ya know."

"Hm. Seems that way." Velvet responded easily, a smile creeping into her expression as she crossed her arms.

"…Then I'll keep your services in mind for the future in case I ever need them. Sound alright?" She offered.

"Music to my ears." The merchant replied easily.

With that exchange over with, she pivoted on her foot and faced Sorey again, near shoving the papers and pen into his hands by force. "Now then, you, Mr. Shepherd, better buck up!" She urged. "This medicine ain't going anywhere until you sign for it. The rules are rules for a reason."

"Medicine?" Sorey blinked, glancing at the three wagons laden with cargo parked on the side of the path amongst the resting Sparrowfeathers. "That's what this all is?"

"Paid for by a guy named Neif." Rose nodded. "Apparently, he and a group of people needed it all shipped to town as sharply as possible. That's why they paid us top dollar even when they were already headed in the same direction."

"Oh, that's great!" Sorey exclaimed. "The sanctuary's actually close to running out of the medicine we'd brought when we first came here." Quickly, the Shepherd uncapped the pen and drew a rough signature on the line on the bottom before handing both items back to the merchant. "Were Neif and the other townspeople alright?" He asked curiously as he handed them over.

"They were doing just fine, don't get your Shepherd britches in a bunch." Rose assured, primly taking the documents back and sliding the pen back into her pants pocket. "And thanks. We'll deliver the medicine straight to the sanctuary in a flash. You can count on it." She promised.

She blinked, abruptly snapping her fingers as a thought came to her. "Say, you wanna come take a gander at our stuff? We got some fantastic new travel gear in stock!" She put both hands on her hips. "…But I can't guarantee a discount even for the savior of the world though, I'm afraid." She warned in advance.

Sorey chuckled, putting a finger to his cheek. "Don't see why not."

"Cool." All business-like, the sharply dressed merchant proceeded to beckon the two of them down the steps of the deck towards the stopped carriages. "Right this way."

Together, the three of them trotted down the few steps of the deck and onto the pavement, mingling with the groups of Sparrowfeathers trotting here and there, all busily attending to the various tasks needed by their caravan. The air was filled with lighthearted chatter and activity as people sharpened knives, watered horses, and accounted for inventory. Velvet glanced around, impressed at the obvious cohesion at work around her. They almost resembled one big extended family, moving amongst each other with acute familiarity of those who had lived together for years on end.

Eguille was waiting for them at the back of the first caravan, his arms crossed and ready as he stood beside the open display of travel items laid out beside him. "I knew she'd net you into this." He said as way of explanation.

"Of course you did." Rose replied easily as she came to a halt before the display. "I'm the best, aren't I?" She turned and raised an eyebrow at Sorey. "Don't be shy!" She urged. "If you see anything you like, let any of us know and we'll give ya the price." Her eyes narrowed. "And don't even think about haggling! We're no petty street merchants."

Sorey grinned back at her, scratching the back of his head. "Not a problem." With that, he trotted forward, his eyes eagerly taking in the wide variety of travel equipment, idly striking up a conversation with Eguille as he did so.

Velvet strolled up to her and stood beside Rose, watching the Shepherd go about his business shopping. The merchant gave her a curious look over her shoulder. "…So, whatcha doin' hanging out with Sorey?" She asked conversationally.

Velvet shrugged in response. "Better to travel with others than to travel alone, I suppose." She explained vaguely.

"Nonsense." Rose instantly dismissed, waving a hand at the other woman. "A tough gal like you needing to travel with others?" She let out a laugh. "For some reason I find that kinda hard to believe."

The disguised therion let out an amused huff in response. "You're free to believe what you want." She allowed easily with a shrug. "In any case, I'm travelling with him and Alisha for the time being."

Humming, Rose held a curled-up finger up to her chin in thought. After a moment, she spoke up again.

"…He's a bit of a weirdo, isn't he?" She asked, shooting a grin over her shoulder.

A smirk rising on her face, Velvet let out a scoff in response. "That's putting it mildly." She remarked dryly. "I don't think I've ever met a single person quite like him."

Turning to face her fully, Rose tilted her head to the side, a single hand on her hip. "Then again, the Shepherd ought to be like that, don't you think?" She suggested conversationally. "Anyone who marches out to save the world by themself has to be a little bit strange."

Velvet nodded slowly, her gaze turning back upon the subject of their conversation. "Well, if that's the case, Sorey fits the bill, at least." She observed.

Right on cue, the Shepherd let out an excited shout, lunging forward as if possessed and grabbing a particularly dusty book off one of the boxes inside of the caravan.

"Hey!" Rose yelled sharply. "You break it, you buy it!" She warned.

"Sorry!" He called back sheepishly, crawling out of the caravan and plopping himself back on his two feet, gingerly cradling the aged and weathered tome in his hands. Almost instantly, he forgot their existence as he tenderly opened the aged green cover of the book to the first page, reverently blowing off some dust as he did so.

Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Rose tore her eyes away from the fascinated Shepherd and glanced at Velvet. "…Putting it mildly, huh?" She quoted wryly.

Velvet waved a hand in resignation. "Yep." She breathed.

The therion blinked, registering familiar figures making their way through the merchants populating the pathway towards them. She turned her head to the side.

"Sorey." She prompted.

At her voice, the Shepherd wrenched his eyes away from the tome in his hands and glanced at her. He followed her gaze and found the rest of the group trotting over to him and Velvet. "Oh! Hey there, Alisha." He greeted, discreetly acknowledging the three seraphim walking behind the princess as well. "Any luck?" He asked, gingerly closing the book in his hands.

Alisha nodded. "We're to head to the Bors Ruins, about a day's travel away from town to the south." She explained.

At her side, Mikleo elaborated, "Rohan and Atakk were able to determine that those ruins is where the powerful hellion is residing. Rohan assured us that if we took it down, he would then have no problem becoming Lord of the Land for Marlind by using the Great Tree as a vessel."

Velvet tilted her head up towards the sun shining through the distant looming canopy, gauging the time. "If we leave now, we should be able to get there around midday tomorrow." She pointed out.

Rose cocked her head curiously. "What'cha guys headed all the way out there for?" She asked, her gaze flitting between Sorey, Velvet, and Alisha.

Alisha balked. "Well…" She trailed off.

Sorey attempted to come up with an explanation. "A-ah. Uhm…" He held up a useless finger in the air as he grasped in vain for a lie to answer her question.

"Shepherd things." Came Velvet's easy, nonchalant response. She gave Rose a mild shrug. "What else did you expect?"

"Ahh… I see now." Rose nodded sagely, her lips curling up into a sly smirk as she evidently came to a conclusion from Velvet's words. "Headed off to a distant, isolated location with your companions, huh? Nice plan there, Shepherd." She gave Sorey a sly wink. "Don't worry. I won't tell." She glanced at both Alisha and Velvet, her smirk widening. "I just hope he shows you two a good time!" She chirped brightly.

Her eyes narrowed mischievously. "He does seem like quite the ladies' man, after all." Rose drawled.

Sorey and Alisha simultaneously choked on their own spit.

Velvet, on the other hand, simply gave another light shrug in response to her words. "He does seem like the type. I'll have to see for myself if he can actually manage it, though." She replied, evidently completely unconcerned about the connotations behind her words.

Rose grinned back at her. "I'm sure you will."

"Hey there! Rose!"

The woman turned to wave at Eguille who had wandered off towards the other two carts in the caravan. "What's up?" She called back.

The man beckoned her over urgently.

Her eyebrows narrowing at the serious expression on the captain's face, Rose glanced at the rest of the Shepherd's group. "Be back in a sec." She promised.

With that she broke into a jog towards Eguille and the group of Sparrowfeathers huddled around him in deep conversation. Velvet watched her go, her eyes narrowed as well as she studied the serious air surrounding the group of merchants as Rose arrived.

Something bad had happened.

"…Hahaha!"

Velvet turned around and watched with amusement as Mikleo had apparently reached his limit, bursting into snickers. At his side, Lailah seemed similarly amused yet was managing to mask her humor behind her hand. Edna just had a wry grin on her face as she spun her umbrella on her shoulder.

Mikleo faced Sorey with a wide grin on his face. "A ladies' man, huh? Sorey, I never knew you had it in you!"

Edna twirled her umbrella again, her dull smirk widening. "Wow." She remarked dryly. "Who would've thought? The Shepherd is a womanizer."

Lailah let out a muffled giggle behind her hand. "Indeed! Ah, Sorey. A beautiful maiden latched onto an arm apiece, headed out together for a clandestine stroll in the untamed wilderness, their intentions a close-kept secret between themselves." She breathed, her eyes shining with romanticist light.

Alisha's face could not have been redder. "S-stop it!" She demanded, mortified. "You know it isn't like that, Lailah!"

Edna tilted her head to the side. "What part of it is wrong? That is technically the truth, you know." She pointed out mercilessly.

"But… but that's not-!" Alisha began.

Shaking his head humorously, Mikleo patted the princess on the shoulder. "Let it go, Alisha." He suggested wisely. "You really don't want to deal with the fangs on that one." He gestured disdainfully at the little imp known as Edna over his shoulder.

In response, Edna stuck her tongue petulantly out at him.

Sorey chuckled hesitantly at the whole ordeal, scratching his hair. He glanced to his side, finding the other 'lady' of the group standing there surprisingly unaffectedly watching the exchange. "You don't seem too bothered by what Rose said, Velvet." Sorey pointed out.

The hardened woman waved a hand in response. "It got her off our case, didn't it?" She pointed out. "Besides, it hardly matters to us what she thinks. Better to play along and save ourselves some time."

"Haha." Sorey chuckled, scratching his cheek. "I guess you're right."

Alisha let out a sigh, shaking her head. "I do hope she doesn't go around spreading rumors." She hugged herself with her left arm. "I'm sure it wouldn't do the reputation of the Royal Family any favors."

"I wouldn't worry about that." Sorey returned easily. "Rose is a nice person. She wouldn't do anything like that."

"…Yeah, I'd agree with you on that." Velvet replied, crossing her arms and leaning back on the rear pillar of the stopped cart. Right on cue, the merchant in question trotted back up to the rest of them, a grim expression on her face.

"…Trouble?" Velvet prompted seriously as she arrived.

Rose nodded soberly; her earlier cheeriness having evaporated in an instant. "Trouble." She confirmed.

She turned to Sorey. "If you guys are headed out to the Bors Ruins, you ought to know that a group of refugees just came from a nearby settlement. They say that their village that's not far from the ruins has been taken over by a gang of bandits."

"…Bandits?" Alisha asked worriedly, holding a fist up to her chest. "Then it must be them…"

"Alisha?" Sorey prompted.

The princess nodded, explaining, "A few years ago, there was a group of soldiers who deserted the army and disavowed the kingdom, forming their own ranks and banding together as outlaws." She shifted on her feet. "They've been harassing villages and travelers on the outskirts of Hyland ever since, but this the first time I've ever heard of them doing something as bold as taking over an entire village."

Rose shook her head. "Their taking over the village in of itself wasn't the worst part." Her eyes narrowed. "The worst was just how brutal they apparently were in doing so."

"…Brutal, you say?" Sorey asked seriously, shifting on his feet.

"Yeah…" Rose rested her right hand on her opposite shoulder, looking away with a disturbed expression. "Apparently, they attacked out of nowhere in the middle of the night, screaming and howling the whole while. At first the villagers thought they were being attacked by a horde of rabid animals! The survivors claimed that the bandits didn't even seem to care about taking valuables; all they wanted to do was to kill people!" The merchant seemed profoundly disturbed by the news.

"Oh no." Sorey breathed softly.

At his side, Edna closed her umbrella with a soft huff. "Hellions." She summarized succinctly. "A pack of them, it sounds like."

Lailah threaded her fingers together in front of her dress worriedly. "The deviation from their usual behavior, going from highwaymen to outright murderers in the span of a few years does seem to support that theory."

Mikleo met Sorey's gaze seriously. "We should stop by the village on our way to the ruins, just to check the situation out."

Sorey nodded wordlessly.

He turned to Rose. "Thanks for the heads up. We'll be careful." He promised.

The merchant abruptly perked up and flashed a bright smile in response. "Naturally!" She jerked a finger at the book cradled in his hands, raising an eyebrow. "By the way, you arepaying for that, right?"

"Ah!" Sorey gingerly set the book down on a nearby crate and reached for his wallet. "Yeah! I am. Sorry."

"Sheesh." Rose shook her head as the Shepherd picked out some coin. "Out of all the stuff I thought you might've bought, that dusty old thing would've been the last thing I'd expect for you to buy." With a shrug, the merchant swiped the cash from the Shepherd's proffered hand the moment he handed it over. "Whatever. Pleasure doin' business with ya!"

Sorey grinned back, picking the book back up and sliding it into his pack. "Thanks, Rose! And thanks again for delivering the medicine."

The woman gave a salute. "Ain't no problem!" She reassured. With that, she turned and faced the rest of the caravan and sucked in a breath. "Alright guys!" She yelled out, instantly drawing the attention of the rest of the Sparrowfeathers. "Time to scoot! Let's go!"

Choruses of "yes, Boss!" and "right away, Boss!" rang out in response as the merchants scurried around the caravan in an impressively synchronized fashion. The group was quick to hop out of the way of the rushing Sparrowfeathers as they secured the displayed goods and hauled them back into the cart, watching the spectacle with impressed looks.

Nodding to herself, Rose turned her back to her fellow caravan members and gave Sorey, Velvet, and Alisha a wave. "Be careful out there."

Velvet replied with a nod. "You too."

With that, Rose turned back around and hopped on the back of the cart just as it started rolling, lithely making her way up to the front and plonking down next to Eguille at the front. The rest of the group watched as the Sparrowfeathers departed deeper into Marlind; a ray of sunshine in a dark forest for the plague town.

Sorey glanced at everyone, gauging their expressions and conditions. "Everyone, ready to head out as well?"

"Yes." Alisha affirmed. "We should make haste for the ransacked village at once."

"Alright then." Sorey turned on his heel down the path where the Sparrowfeathers had come from. "Then let's go."

Together, the Shepherd's group set off on their way towards the exit of town with the fate of Marlind on their shoulders. High up above, the Great Tree watched the rest of the plague town in silence, still enshrouded in a dreary cloud of malevolence.

Awaiting its savior.

---​

The sun was setting in the distant horizon, basking the world in gold as the group approached the village sitting beside plowed fields at the bottom of a large valley. Their bodies were tensed and guarded as they made their way down the dirt path cutting through the farms towards the small settlement, their gazes alert and constantly scanning their surroundings.

Pillars of white smoke rose softly into the air from various points in town, rising into the golden sky and mingling with the cloud of malevolence blanketing the region. The faint, putrid trace of burnt wood and rotting flesh made itself known as the group crossed the threshold into town, their eyes wide and horrified.

Claw marks were everywhere.

They dotted the wooden walls, the doors, the ground; evidence of acts of violence permeated every inch of town. Some claw marks even had traces of blood gouged deep into them. Doors hung from hinges, creaking noisily in the wind. Metallic wind vanes installed on the rooves of the double-story buildings groaned as the breeze pushed them from side to side. Desecrated houses lined the empty main street, standing vigil in the haunting silence.

Strewn debris scattered about in the dirt, tumbling over the abused belongings flagrantly strewn all throughout the path; valuables that had clearly been abandoned by the villagers in a flat panic as the sheer terror of the raid had set in. Amongst the clutter on the ground were scattered pieces of torn clothing soaked in blood, and various collections of cracked and fragmented bones could be seen dotting the path.

Human bones that had been licked clean.

Alisha had a hand over her mouth in sheer horror. "This… this is horrific." She breathed, aghast. "I had no idea…"

Sorey's jaw was set as he took a step forward, kneeling down and picking up a battered and abused doll that had been lying on the dirt, covered in mud. He seemed to stare at it for a second before shaking his head and dropping it once more alongside the rest of the abandoned clothes at his feet. "Lailah." He prompted seriously. "What do you think?"

The fire seraph stepped forward quietly. "It would seem to be indicative of a pack of werewolf hellions. People so consumed by rage and bloodlust that they become raging beasts as hellions." She looked around with worried eyes. "By the looks of things, there must've been quite a lot of them…"

Alisha let out a breath, shaking her head. "Last I heard, the group was around 20 strong. They were all veterans before they deserted, and their group was small enough that they were able to evade our patrols, yet large enough for them to be rather notorious in these parts. They were giving our forces some serious headaches, but nothing to this degree." She fisted her hands. "…Had we done a better job in apprehending them, this tragedy… would never have happened." She breathed lowly.

Edna tapped the princess's side gently with the tip of her umbrella. "Get angry at the monsters that did this, not at the people who tried to catch them." She berated sternly. "Doing anything else is just a waste of time."

"Edna's right, Alisha." Mikleo weighed in, taking in every disgusting detail of the scene with righteous fury in his eyes. "Besides, who knows when the bandits may have turned into hellions? For all we know they could've turned months ago; there would've been no way normal humans would've ever stood a chance against them if that were the case." He shook his head. "No, the right thing to do now is to purify them before they hurt anybody else."

"…Alright." The princess gave both Edna and Mikleo a gracious nod. "I appreciate it. I vow to help you all in taking them down."

Lailah's voice was hesitant. "I'm… afraid that might not be possible, right now."

"Why not?" Sorey asked, turning to face her. The rest of the group did as well, surrounded by the devastation of the village.

Lailah shook her head at the rest of them, holding a hand up to her chest. "…We just fought the drake two nights ago and are still on the mend from that battle." She pointed out softly. "Furthermore, don't forget that our primary objective is to purify the strong hellion in the Bors Ruins." She gestured beyond them. "The truth of the matter is the hellions here are not strong enough to interfere with the Lord of the Land's domain. Yet in such numbers, it would be excruciatingly difficult for us to defeat them all at once. After such a battle, we would be severely weakened when the time comes to fight the hellion in the Bors Ruins."

Understanding her point, Sorey shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "…So, we let them be for now." He summarized lowly.

"Yes." Lailah confirmed. "That is, what I believe, the best option for us at the moment."

Mikleo turned away, letting out a sigh. "The logic makes perfect sense… but that doesn't help make me feel any better about it."

Alisha hugged herself in thought. "…You're right, Lailah." She agreed. "As a knight, sometimes the hardest battle to fight is telling yourself that the best thing to do is to hold off and fight another day." She remarked dully. "For that is the curse of the effective tactician."

"…Right." Sorey nodded slowly, turning around and taking one last long look at the desolate village. "Then let's go. We'll come back for them another day, when we're stronger."

"That's the spirit." Lailah remarked softly.

At that moment, the wind changed direction, causing the surrounding wind vanes to creak loudly as they shifted with the breeze.

AWROOOOO…!

The group tensed at the howl that erupted only seconds later, reaching for their weapons as a chorus of other, very close howls joined the first. Various clattering resounded through the abandoned village as the cursed inhabitants began to rouse, tasting the scent of fresh meat in the air.

Sorey turned sharply around, meeting the eyes of his group. "Come on, guys!" He urged. "Run!"

As one, the group of seraphim and humans turned and began to run back the way they came.

Suddenly, a thought abruptly came to Mikleo as he skidded to a halt. "Huh? Hold on a sec! Where's Velvet?!"

The rest of the group came to a shuddering halt at the entrance to the village, their eyes wide as they whipped their heads around and confirmed that the woman had indeed vanished.

"What the-?" Sorey jogged back into town a few steps and raised his hands to his mouth. "Velvet? Velvet!" He called.

A chorus of vicious-sounding howls was his response as the hellions began rushing towards his location, drawn to his yelling.

"Damn! Where did she go?!" Mikleo swore.

Lailah blinked abruptly and pointed over to the right. "There she is!"

The group turned and found the woman exiting a long, uniquely-shaped building and charging down the hill off the main road towards them, her long raven hair and coat trailing behind her. She waved a hand.

"Move!" She yelled harshly as she sprinted towards them.

Nodding, Sorey patted Mikleo's back and the two of them ran back to the group. Velvet swiftly joined them nearly at the same time, charging over with a steady pace. Together, the Shepherd's group turned fled the scene just as the first of the werewolf hellions came into sight, prompting the group to double time it as they fled from the monsters they wanted to so dearly vanquish.

As they did, Velvet cast a dark glance over her shoulder at the village, her eyes narrowing.

Beyond the distant hills of the valley, the sun slowly began to set over the abandoned down, casting its form into dark shadows.

---​

The squeaking of the wind vanes being disturbed in the breeze punctuated the haunting silence blanketing the desecrated village. The dull breeze whistled keenly through shattered glass windows and battered doorways, invading the empty houses just to find there wasn't a single occupant to be found inside. Abandoned pieces of cloth strewn about in the dirt moved slightly in the wind catching on cracked fence posts and bloodied walls.

Not a single source of light; not a single sign of life could be seen in the darkened, deceased village. Stars twinkled in the expansive night sky above the entire valley, unimpeded by any source of manmade light pollution. A foreboding darkness covered the world for as far as the eye could see. There was no moon in the sky tonight.

Another quiet gust of wind picked up softly, rustling the dark jacket of a single lone, long-haired individual stepping over the threshold and into the village proper.

Her steel boots crunched in the dirt as she moved, the sound seeming to resound across the settlement with each step she took. Her expression, hidden by the shadows, revealed nothing as to her intentions as she traversed deeper into the broken village. The damaged façades of the surrounding abandoned houses seemed to watch the lone intruder keenly as she passed them by.

Beasts of the night lurking in the shadows stirred at the sound of a foolish human entering their domain. Their hot breaths misting in the air before their fanged snouts, the pack of hulking beasts began stalking their prey in the moonless night.

They leapt from roof to roof towards her, their claws making minimal sound as they flew from one building to the next and clacking on the shingled rooftops upon landing. They crawled slowly through alleyways to get a glimpse of her, their mouths dripping with saliva at the sight of fresh meat before them. As one single massive organism with many minds, every one of the monsters in the cursed town lithely made their way towards the lone human, eager for the taste of fresh blood.

Velvet paid them no mind. Ignoring the low snarls and the noisy clattering made by the mindless beasts as they stalked her, the therion simply continued walking towards the center of the village.

Idly, she used her enhanced hearing to discern the differences in tone of the various sounds and came up with a rough approximate of the number of hellions in the village. There were around 30 of them.

Alisha's information had obviously been outdated.

Eventually, the woman reached the heart of the village; the town square. Her boots clanked on the cobblestones below as she cut her way towards the middle of the large circular area towards the large central well that had served as the life spring of the town. It had long since been demolished in the chaos.

All around the square, evidence of the destruction was strewn about. Crushed trading stalls cluttered the cobblestones; smashed by raging monsters in an attempt to consume those who had been occupying them. The bones of humans dotted the area, all lying beside what had once been some sort of protective armor; the remains of one of the village's few guards, undoubtedly. All around her, the surrounding buildings had been subjected to particularly concentrated violence due to their high carrying capacities. Their tall designs had evidently turned them into utter slaughterhouses to be harvested by the monsters.

The air here reeked of blood.

Velvet came to a halt before the destroyed well amidst all of it, quietly taking it all in. Her fists were curled up at her sides. The sounds of the savage monsters approaching her had grown louder and more centralized. They were all there behind her; on the ground and on the rooftops. Every bestial eye was fixated hungrily on her form, she was sure.

And then finally, she turned around to face the monsters that had done all of this, her long hair and jacket blowing softly in the wind as she did so.

She counted 32 werewolf hellions, all salivating and snarling in eager anticipation of rending her to pieces. Realizing that they'd been discovered, the wolves began to close in on her, slowly and methodically stepping towards her on the cobblestones. They were all unique; some had coats of light brown while others were of midnight black. Some were massive and stood at near 9 feet tall, while others were small and more lithe at around her height. Some still had ripped articles of clothing attached to their bodies; proof of their previous existence as humans. And all of them were ready to tear her apart for food.

Once again, that image that she'd seen earlier today flashed before her eyes, causing her jaw to lock up in utter fury.

---​

A schoolhouse at the top of a hill. Freshly pruned grass, painted walls, small carved paths; efforts made to ensure the enjoyment of the village's younglings in their childhoods.

The inside had been marred with blood.

She'd stepped through the building alone, her eyes hard. The single church-like classroom had been ransacked. Bones had littered the floor, crunching under her boots.

And there, in the corner of the building, still yet to be touched by the ravenous monsters pruning the town for leftover meat, had been the bodies of two children. Even in death, the resemblance had been clear. A brother protecting his sister.

Both had been clawed mercilessly to death.

She'd looked around, gauging what had happened. Evidently the rest of the escaping schoolchildren had been too tantalizing for the monster that had crashed through the window, leading it to forget about these two in the process.

It wouldn't be long until these two bodies would be found again, she'd known. And then there would be not a trace left of the young boy's bravery and determination to save his sister, as the mindless beasts that had killed them consumed their bodies.

She had stood there for a long time amidst that ransacked classroom.

---​

Velvet opened her eyes and let out a feral growl of anger, taking a step forward and erupting in malevolence.

The world darkened even further as waves of malevolence blasted out from the woman's form, causing all the accumulated hellions to recoil back in surprise and shock, yipping and yowling. Her hair whipped around with her cloak in the vortex of power, her eyes cold with fury. At her side, her claw had erupted from its sheath of bandages, wreathed in tendrils of purple miasma.

Recovering from its shock, a tall, distinctive lycanthrope at the head of the pack took an incredulous step forward, opening its mouth.

"You… you're a hellion too!" It exclaimed in a low voice that was raw and guttural from disuse.

Velvet put her human hand on her hip, meeting the brown-furred lycanthrope's yellow eyes with her own. "…You're the leader here, I take it?" She asked darkly.

"That's right. I'm the alpha here." The lycanthrope took a few more steps forward, cocking its feral head curiously. "What're you doing here?" He asked. "'Fraid that if you wanted some food, there's none left here."

At this, the surrounding amassed hellions burst into rough, dark-hearted chuckles. Their bestial laughter echoed through the desecrated town.

"…Is that so?" Velvet let out a humorless laugh as well, shifting on her feet and holding the leader's gaze as the surrounding laughter died down. Her eyes abruptly transitioned into an alarming shade of violet red.

"Because I still see plenty."

And with that, the therion exploded into action. Before any of them could even react, Velvet had materialized before the lead lycanthrope with murder in her blazing red eyes.

The woman exploded in a blast of violet mana, slicing her foot upward while powering up into the air, bringing the lycanthrope's helpless body up with her. Without pause, the therion whirled around decisively and brought both her sword and feet to bear, slicing and bashing her airborne prey without remorse. Purple blood sprayed everywhere as she laid into it with all her might; an utter vortex of inhumanly powerful slashes and kicks.

With one final snarl, Velvet vanished for a split second, leaving the limp body of the stunned lycanthrope arching through the night sky high above the square.

She reappeared in a flash of malevolence high above the leader of the pack with pure fury in her expression and her sword arm drawn back. Violet mana wreathed her entire form as she angled her body down, poised to expel her wrath upon her enemies.

"DEFIANT CONVICTION!" She roared, propelling herself downwards and straight towards the helpless lycanthrope's body, sword first.

SHINK!

A malevolent arrow piercing down from the heavens, the therion rammed her sword straight through the hellion's chest with the full force of her velocity, forcing both of them down and back down onto the ground. Sparks flew as the point of her sword crashed onto the cobblestones, having gone clean through the lycanthrope's body and imbedding itself into the street.

The monster let out a choking cry as it squirmed from the agony of a sword impaled through its heart. Velvet jerked her blade out of the ground and the monster disdainfully, pushing herself off its writhing body with her knee and turned to face the rest of the beasts as they charged her, howling in rage and fury.

She raised a challenging eyebrow in response, flicking the blood off her blade and angling her body towards the rest of them. "Come on then!" She snarled hatefully.

The pack of werewolf hellions eagerly obliged, charging forward in bloodlust and seeking to overwhelm the single woman who had attacked their leader. The night was filled with howling battle cries and bestial snarls as the entire pack charged.

Velvet brought her claw back over her shoulder as they neared her, untold fury in her eyes. "…I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" She screamed, tearing her claw over her shoulder and down upon the first werewolf to reach her.

"NIGHTMARE CLAW!"

Four trails of blood followed her claw through the air as she slashed straight across the hellion's chest, utterly disintegrating its skin as the appendage devoured its skin. Without pause, the therion lithely redirected the velocity of her claw having killed her first victim, pushing back up and slashing backwards into the sky while aggressively leaping forward and upwards. Blood flew as she tore into two more hellions with the swing, casting the bodies off with sheer inhuman force.

She twisted in midair, bringing her claw down palm-first as she landed, slamming it upon her next victim, crushing it into pulp. Pushing forward and continuing her charge, Velvet pushed her claw to the right and lashed it in another backhand slash, casting off even more of her enemies who howled in agony as their flesh and blood was torn from them and devoured. She didn't stop, lunging forward and dashing every single body within reach of her claw and sending blood and bodies flying with merciless slashes.

She killed all that she could.

Blood splattered everywhere across the cobblestones once more; this time the blood of the monsters. Cries of agony and pathetic whimpers replaced the bestial howls of fury as the werewolf pack was decimated by the Lord of Daemons.

Velvet hissed as a few werewolves managed to score a few slashes on her back and rolled lithely forward, landing on her two feet and facing them like a vengeful wraith. She let out a disdainful scoff. "Is that all you got?!" In retaliation, she lunged forward, her pulsating claw sweeping before her. "Hell's Claw!" She roared, forcing mana through her arm and collecting it in her palm.

BANG!

Dismissing the utterly disintegrated remains of the hellions she'd just killed in an instant, Velvet bent backwards in a dodge as another werewolf leapt clean over her with claws extended. She returned the favor by cartwheeling around, her hidden boot blade slicing deep into the hellion's flank. In response to its howls of anguish, she whirled around, her claw extended.

"DEVOUR!" She snarled.

It didn't stand a chance as she bashed it into the ground and ate it alive; her claw gulping its life force at an alarming rate. Within seconds, the monster exploded in a burst of blood and gore, splattering the therion in the process.

It still wasn't enough.

She wasn't close to being done.

Without any shred left of the bestial hunger that had dominated their minds only moments earlier, the remaining stragglers that had thus far been left untouched by the monstrous woman turned tail and sprinted away as quickly as they could, driven by the panicked instinct of a predator suddenly finding itself playing the role of prey. Yips of fear and terror filled the air as they fled the square and scattered into the winds.

Or at least they tried.

Without pause, Velvet whirled around and charged mercilessly after the escaping hellions, her claw held low and at the ready behind her.

Finally, she thought idly as she continued to kill every monster she could capture within her claw. After all this time of being a fake, pretending to hide it all, it was amazingly refreshing to finally do this. At long last she was finally being true to who she really was.

A monster.

With a dark, savage smirk forming on her lips, Velvet Crowe lunged forward, eagerly hunting down more of her prey. They would die, eaten alive as food for a monster, just like what they had done to the innocent people of this village. Such was their sentence.

And in the end, not a single hellion managed to escape the town; doomed to suffer the same end as the townspeople upon whom they had feasted.

This night was one of blood.

Within the span of a few minutes, the monsters' last howls had faded into the night, leaving nothing but a deceptive tranquility to fill the valley. The wind vanes built on the rooves of the houses continued to squeak in the breeze, unperturbed by the massacre that had just concluded down below.

Silence returned to the land.

"Gah!"

Coughing and hacking out blood, the lead lycanthrope stumbled to the desecrated well in the center of the deserted square, using the crumbling stone wall as leverage to haul himself weakly to his feet. He grunted, punching his chest as the wound that had been inflicted by the sword driven through his heart continued to heal agonizingly slowly. "D-damn." He moaned, heaving and wheezing for breath as he looked around the empty square, his eyes wide as he took in the sight of what remained of his former pack, splayed out in bloody heaps across the cobblestones.

He froze to the sound of steel landing lightly on stone coming from behind him.

Trembling in pure terror, the tall werewolf turned around and pushed himself even further back onto the ruins of the well fearfully as he took in the horrifying sight of that monstrous woman strolling leisurely towards him across the square, blood caking her entire body and face. He splayed his shuddering paws forward in the air disarmingly.

"W-w-wait!" He stammered as the woman continued to approach slowly, her terror-inducing red eyes hard and murderous. "P-please! You've gotta understand!" He let out a yelp as he tripped while stumbling backwards, barely managing to regain his footing as he tried his best to maintain some distance from the approaching demon. "The others… the ones you killed; my pack! They were beasts!" His voice held a terrible tremor as he continued to back up with shaky legs. "They… they were going to eat me! The only way I could sate them would be by leading them to my village! I-I had to do it, I swear!"

The cowering alpha let out a yelp as the trembling in his legs caused them to give up on him, sending him crashing back onto his rear in the middle of a pool of blood by the entrance to the village square, helpless as the woman continued to advance upon him. "P-please!" He stammered. "Let me go! I'm not like them! I'm just a coward, trying to save my own skin!" He clenched his eyes shut in terror. "It's not like… like I wanted them to kill the people of my own hometown!"

He opened his eyes and sat up beseechingly as Velvet came to a halt before him with hard eyes. "You gotta believe me! Please! Spare me!" He cried.

Silence fell as the terrifying woman actually seemed to consider his words for a split second.

And then she opened her mouth.

"If you think this is hell…"

Terror filled the lycanthrope's eyes. He held up a single paw uselessly in front of him as he scrambled backwards.

Velvet's eyes dilated violently.

"I'M JUST GETTING STARTED!" She roared, lunging towards his helpless form with all her might.

"HAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!"

One last cry of agony split the night before it quickly faded, leaving behind a true silence in its wake.

Heaving for breath, Velvet Crowe slowly lowered her claw down and let it grasp the head of the motionless body lying at her feet. The grotesque gulping of blood and gore echoed off the surrounding walls, finishing with a disgusting burst of malevolence as the hellion was consumed by the Lord of Calamity.

She slowly straightened, bringing her feet together and raising her head, her long, bloodied raven hair slowly lifting from her back as she did so. A vicious wraith, standing in a pool of blood in the middle of a truly empty village.

As she straightened, her red eyes went straight to the person watching her from the entrance to the village.

Lailah the fire seraph stood there silently, her lips pursed, and her entwined hands held protectively in front of her dress as she gazed upon the grizzly scene. Her eyes were filled with mixed, indiscernible emotions as she took in the results of Velvet's work.

Without a word, Velvet closed her eyes and concentrated. Within moments, her swirling domain was once again suppressed within her being, leaving the bloodstained town in a state of tranquility. With a flick of her arm, her pulsating daemon claw disappeared into its bandages.

And then she turned on her heel and walked calmly right past Lailah, headed towards the exit of the village. Her footprints were tinged with specks of blood.

Hesitantly, Lailah cast one last nervous glance over the utter devastation in the Lord of Calamity's wake before slowly following her back to the camp.

As she made her way back down the path, Velvet made a mental note to wash her clothes before she got back to camp. That, and to wash the blood off her face.

It was time to go back to hiding her true self.

And so, the last two living things departed the scene, leaving behind the truly empty remains of what had been a village in their wake. A light breeze blew once more, whistling through the broken blood-stained walls and exploring the motionless settlement in the middle of the dark valley.

From then on, the silence of the night was left unbroken.

----​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 9 - Sunlight.

The crisp forest air buzzed with the warbling of insects. Bright rays of sunlight emitted by the summer sun hanging high in the cloudless sky above pierced through the sparse canopy of lush green leaves. The world was calm and tranquil, with not a single stray gust of wind to disturb the gratuitous peace that reigned over the various critters living and thriving in the depths of the overgrown Bors Ruins.

It was a peaceful day.

An enclosed body of water filled with soft, crystal-clear liquid rested in the middle of the forest of green; a small lake gently nurtured by a collection of small bubbling streams weaving in and out of the shrubbery from places yet unknown. Waterfowl quacked and warbled as they jointly landed and took off from the surface of the lake at irregular intervals, leisurely fishing in the warm sunlight. Insects buzzed and converged on the plants growing on the edge of the water, idly searching for sustenance in the cool shadows of the leaves. Small mammals skittered through the underbrush, quickly dabbling their noses in the blissfully refreshing water of the lake before smoothly taking off once more, vanishing into the trees.

Surrounded by such faucets of nature, groups of ancient, manmade stone pillars protruded haltingly outward in groups from the surface of the lake. The remnants of various chiseled carvings, having long since succumbed to the elements, peeked out from behind the thick strands of shadowed ivy wreathing the crumbling pillars. Their obscure, mysteriously etched lines seemed whisper softly into the summer air, reminiscing about forgotten times long since passed.

It was in this calm place, underneath the shadow of a tall oak tree leaning lazily over the lake waters, that the Shepherd's group stopped for a much-needed rest after a long morning of non-stop travelling.

"…Crap."

Everyone blinked and turned away from what they were doing at the moment to watch as Mikleo shook his head in dismay and heaved a sigh, slowly dropping his opened travel pack back down onto the ground. Without looking over his shoulder at the others, the dejected seraph stated glumly, "…There's a hole in my pack."

Alisha's eyes widened in surprise. "You don't mean…?"

"Yep."

The water seraph rubbed his forehead tiredly, running his fingers over the golden circlet hidden behind his hair. "It looks like all the groceries we bought back in Marlind fell out at one point or another on the way here." He explained dejectedly.

Sorey ran a hand through his hair in consternation. "No way. That was all of our food!" He exclaimed. "Talk about bad luck."

"Hm." Edna hummed. "I guess we'll starve to death." She shrugged, idly twirling her closed umbrella around in her left hand. "Oh well."

At this point, leaning behind them all against the oak tree, Velvet couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"…We won't starve." She pointed out dryly, causing the rest of the group to turn to her. "We're in the middle of a forest, and a lively one at that." She waved a hand towards the winding game path they had followed to get here by the side of the lake. She elaborated, "I saw animal tracks as we made our way here. It looked like a pack of prickleboars to me."

Sorey perked up. "Oh, I saw those too!" He recalled, turning to Velvet with a growing grin on his face. "Well, if that's the case, then we should have no problem hunting some food for ourselves for today." He nodded to himself. "Groceries aside, I suppose there's nothing quite like a bit of hearty prickleboar stew on a day like this."

Alisha abruptly balked, hugging herself with one arm and taking a defensive step back. "If that's going to be the case… Might I…" She found her voice. "…Request that someone else cook prickleboar stew this time?" She proposed shyly, her gaze darting to her side briefly.

Next to her, Mikleo groaned, muttering under his breath.

"Oh!" It was amazing how quickly Lailah's eyes brightened at the opportunity. She raised her hand enthusiastically. "I ca-!"

POOF.

Edna suddenly opened her umbrella in a surprisingly noisy manner, conveniently blocking Lailah and her raised hand from view entirely. The earth seraph turned to Velvet with a dry expression. "You." She said bluntly. "It's your turn to cook now." Her eyes narrowed, apparently daringthe therion to disagree.

Velvet raised a single eyebrow in response, holding the impudent little seraph's gaze evenly.

Getting over himself, Mikleo seemed to take the idea to heart. "…Hey, that's true, Velvet." He pointed out. "After all this time we've been traveling together, you've yet to do any cooking so far."

He cocked his head curiously. "You think you're up for it?" He asked. "If you're not, that's not a problem. I can handle it if need be."

She gave the seraph a disdainful look in response. "…I assure you there won't be a problem, thanks." She put shortly.

"I can help hunt the prickleboars for you!" Sorey offered brightly, breaking the abrupt tension in the air as quickly as it had formed.

In response, she turned and gave him a look, crossing her arms. "…You hunt?"

He put a hand to his chin thoughtfully in response to her surprise. "Hmm." He hummed. "I guess I don't really look like it, do I?" He supposed objectively.

She abruptly shrugged, waving a hand noncommittally. "I suppose you could've gone either way." She allowed.

In response, the Shepherd grinned.

Shaking her head, Velvet decided to give in. "…Alright, then." She agreed lightly, shrugging with a hand on her hip. "Prickleboar stew for lunch it is."

At her words, Edna's umbrella abruptly closed with another noisy squeal, revealing a distraught Lailah pouting petulantly on the spot.

Velvet took another look around the assembled group members, nodding to herself. "…I'll need a good fire and a good cooking pot." She announced. "Any seasonings you all can come up with would be useful as well."

The rest of them nodded amicably at her requests.

Velvet then shot Sorey a meaningful look. "…You'd better not get in my way in my hunt." She commented dryly.

Sorey blinked.

"O-oh!" He shook himself. "I'll do my best!" He promised. Discreetly, he shared a wide-eyed glance with Mikleo, panic in his eyes. Clearly, he had expected to hunt for Velvet, not with her.

All he received back from his childhood friend was a helpless shrug in response.

"You coming or not?"

Breaking out of his shock, Sorey realized with a jolt of panic that the hardened woman in question was already halfway out of camp, rhythmically tapping her index finger on her left bicep while staring impatiently at him.

"C-coming!" He yelped, breaking into a jog after her.

Not waiting for the Shepherd to catch up, Velvet went ahead and turned around, strolling at a brisk pace away from the others and out into the wilderness. The two of them quickly headed out into the wilderness, leaving the rest of them with the duty of preparing for their return.

"…Oh dear." Alisha commented, shifting on her feet and watching as the two of them walked off into the tree line. "I do hope that the two of them fare well in their hunt."

"If you're worried about Sorey, don't be." Mikleo waved a dismissive hand in the air as he turned away, instead directing his attention to the cooking utensils in his travel pack. "He was one of the most adept hunters out of everyone back in Elysia." He reassured. "I'm sure he'll hold his own alongside Velvet."

"You do have a point." Alisha agreed. "I do recall being very impressed by his form when he helped gather materials for me when I was there."

She blinked as a thought occurred to her. "…By the way, I never got the chance to ask you, Mikleo." The princess tilted her head curiously. "Were you with us the entire time? Back when I couldn't see you in Elysia?"

In response, Mikleo stuck his nose up in the air haughtily. "What, like you think I didn't have anything better to do than to stalk you two all day?"

Chuckling lightly, Alisha conceded with a smile, "You're right. My apologies."

Mikleo shook his head. "Besides, I wouldn't worry too much about what happened back then." He suggested with a shrug. "Many in the village hadn't even seen a human in years before you came along, save for Sorey. You were a sort of novelty to them at the time, I suppose."

"Well, I assure you; the feeling is mutual." Alisha responded wryly.

The princess shook her head contemplatively. "…It boggles my mind still, sometimes." She remarked thoughtfully. "To think it's only been about a month or so since that fateful day when I first met Sorey in Elysia." She gently rested her chin on her fist. "And yet since then, I've learned so much about the world. Things I never could've even dreamed to exist."

Edna strolled over and knelt down next to Mikleo, perfunctorily helping the other seraph pull out pots and pans from his pack. "That's nice." She commented dryly. "Shame that you'd be labelled as cuckoo and locked up somewhere for a long time if you breathed a word about any of it to another human."

Mikleo deadpanned. "You're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you?"

"And you're an idiot if you think things will ever be different with humans and seraphim." Edna replied easily without missing a beat.

The water seraph put a thoughtful hand on his chin. "Strange. This coming from a seraph who decided out of her own free will to come with a Shepherd whose dream is to nurture coexistence between the two?"

Edna blinked apathetically. "Oh no, you're right. How did I not notice it before?" She said before letting out a fake gasp of surprise. "I'm surrounded by idiots."

Mikleo glared in response.

Alisha stifled her giggles as best she could with her hand over her mouth. "Come now, you two." She chided gently. "We still need to prepare for when Velvet and Sorey return."

"…That's right." Mikleo nodded, suddenly all business. "I think it would be best if you two would go out and gather ingredients while Lailah and I set up camp here."

"Understood." Alisha nodded. "We will do our very best."

Edna stood up and went to the princess's side. "Let's hope that Ms. Grouchy and Mr. Optimist don't end up wasting everyone's time by not catching anything." She commented. Together, she and Alisha set off in the opposite direction from where Sorey and Velvet had left, chatting amicably to each other as they left the shade of the oak tree and stepped into the brilliant sunlight.

As the rest of the group got to work all around her, Lailah stood there quietly for a while longer, watching the distant figures of two hunters walking away from camp with her lips pursed.

She watched the figure of the Lord of Calamity sauntering through the daylight, her long raven hair flowing behind her. Hair that had been stained a dark red with blood last night; the essence of life, ripped from the dozens of people she'd brutally murdered without a hint of hesitation nor mercy. She watched the cool, calculated amber eyes of the demon lord as she moved forward, single-mindedly focused on the task at hand just as she always was; amber eyes that had stared just as unerringly back at her last night when she'd finished her rampage.

Defiant, unrepentant, and resolute.

And then she watched as Sorey the Shepherd followed her brisk stride, hot on her heels like a youthful puppy, eager to earn her approval. She watched as the two of them struck up a light conversation as they walked, following the natural curves of the lake as they headed out into the forest together.

Polar opposites…

She let out a soft breath, resting her head on her palm, all while in deep contemplation, mulling over the conflicting thoughts rattling about in her head as the two of them disappeared into the vibrant green wilderness of the overgrown ruins.

Behind her, the gentle faces chiseled into the stone pillars rising out of the lake waters looked on with eternally ambiguous expressions.

---​

Shallow, consistent imprints of hooves patterned the occasional patch of mud lying in the shadows of the tall trees that the game trail weaved around. The world was a sea of pastel shades of summer green, accented by flashes of bright yellow; expansive natural bouquets of dandelions flourishing in patches of brilliant sunlight alongside the trail.

Their boots trod lightly upon the dirt as they followed the trail of the prickleboar tracks, the gratuitous crunching of steel and leather on earth meshing seamlessly with the constant high-pitched warbling of insects in the surrounding trees. Velvet and Sorey's eyes shifted left to right constantly as they moved softly through the underbrush, gently pushing aside low-hanging branches and leaves as they followed the tracks of their unsuspecting prey. Velvet walked in the lead, ducking and sliding smoothly through the shrubbery ahead while the Shepherd followed a few feet behind her, keeping up with her and shadowing her footsteps as she forged her way deeper into the Bors Ruins.

Time trickled on as smoothly as a stream flowing in the daylight.

The repetitive crunching of her boots quietly treading upon grass and dirt punctuated the surrounding sounds of chirping birds and falling leaves; sounds that inadvertently elicited a soft, acute sense of tranquility within her. It was a feeling she hadn't felt in a long while, she reflected idly as she went about the task at hand. The last time she had gone hunting in such an environment had been a long time ago, under much, much different circumstances. Although…

She idly brought her left hand up to her right wrist and tightened the leather straps binding the gauntlet blade to her arm in ready anticipation for delivering a swift killing blow. A dry smile appeared on her lips. She supposed that, even after all this time, there were some things that hadn't changed at all.

The game trail they followed eventually began to incline uphill; weaving around crumbling stone structures long since overgrown with foliage. At some point, Sorey had wordlessly ended up taking the lead. He now forged his way ahead, gently hopping up the crumbling stones scattered about the trail with his white ceremonial cloak trailing behind his movements. Velvet noted with idle satisfaction the Shepherd's purposefully soft movements and keen eyes as he scanned his surroundings with a certain degree of proficiency; one that came only from considerable experience.

As far as hunting with a partner, she reckoned, having Sorey around as one was far from terrible. An extra pair of keen eyes and ears would almost certainly prove useful in attempting to track down game; especially in a dense environment such as this.

They moved softly up the hill, artfully weaving their footfalls between the patches of dry grass and gravel in order to minimize the noise they created. A dry breeze blew through the forest, accompanied by the squawking of a couple of crows lazily drifting above the leaves. Lizards, disturbed by the intruders quickly encroaching upon their lands, scuttled back within their nooks and crannies in the rocky hillside, watching in keen vigilance as the boots of the two foreign humans moved on. High up in the clouds, a hawk let out a piercing cry - the sound of another hunter that also sought fresh meat from the vibrant woods.

Abruptly, Sorey knelt down on the ground with his arms resting on his knees; his eyes narrowing as he eyed a fresh pile of droppings lying on the side of the game trail. He glanced up as Velvet came to a halt beside him, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed.

The two of them exchanged a silent nod in mutual agreement. Their prey was close by.

The Shepherd got to his feet, the fabric of his clothing rustling softly, and let his right hand drop readily down to the pommel of the sword at his waist. Meanwhile, tense as a bowstring, Velvet took the lead, slowly stalking down the heavily forested game trail with her gauntleted right arm bent and at the ready.

It wasn't long before they came upon them.

The three prickleboars were there, leisurely drinking from the small, clear watering pool surrounded in all directions by sparse tree coverage. Patches of ruined walls were present all around this area as well; long-overgrown husks of ancient stone buildings mingled with the trees, casting dark shadows where insects thrived. Bushes and flowers flourished in proximity to the pool of standing water, populated by fluttering butterflies.

Crouched behind a patch of bushes on the opposite side of the watering hole to their prey, Sorey and Velvet, having effectively gauged the situation, exchanged silent, meaningful looks. Without a word, Sorey pointed to the left side of the prickleboars and sharply gestured inward, before giving Velvet an inquisitive look. The woman responded with a short nod. And with that, satisfied that the Shepherd would do his part, she turned away and quietly slinked into the underbrush, careful to use her surroundings as cover in the process.

As his companion's footfalls faded into the silence, Sorey, now alone, took another careful visual survey of the situation from his vantage point. Ultimately satisfied, he turned to his left and also began to move into position, opposite where Velvet had gone.

The sun slowly moved in the sky as time passed, gently shifting the shadows of the forest.

The three prickleboars continued to rest in the cool shallows of the watering hole, softly sucking in the clear waters underneath the bright blue sky. All around them, the cool overgrown stone walls stood watching in quiet anticipation.

And then the hunters pounced.

Sorey came first, charging from out of the brush alarmingly close to the boars with his sword held close to his body pointing outwards. His eyes were narrowed and his teeth gritted in fierce concentration as he sprinted straight towards the animals in the shallows as quickly as he could. His boots smashed loudly onto the grass and mud, with all pretenses of stealth abandoned.

Instantly, the three prickleboars jerked in surprise, scrambling to find purchase in the muddy shallows of the water with their hooves. Squealing loudly in alarm, the animals instantly turned tail and charged directly away from the attacking human, their bodies splashing wildly in the waters as they leapt from the shallows onto dry land.

As one cohesive unit, the three prickleboars charged away from the human with adrenaline surging through their veins, snorting and panting in primal terror.

And then, from atop of one of the ruined stone walls, a blur of black fell swiftly to earth and slammed directly onto the largest of the boars at the back of the pack, eliciting a sharp squeal of agony and causing the animal to tumble over itself in the grass. Velvet fell into a graceful roll and quickly recovered from her pounce; her extended, bloodstained gauntlet blade held carefully up and away from her body as she did so. She jerked her head, clearing a few errant strands of raven hair from her eyes as she lifted herself from the ground with one hand, briefly surveying the results of her handiwork.

The bloodied corpse of the prickleboar she'd stabbed in the broadside laid in the grass surrounded by specks of blood, wheezing its last few breaths. Beyond it, the remaining two prickleboars had ground to a complete halt, letting out utterly enraged squeals with all notions of escape having been forgotten as they turned as one to charge at Velvet.

At the monster that had killed their mother.

Eyes narrowing at the expected response, Velvet slid backwards onto her feet, tensing her body and holding her gauntlet blade readily at her side. She whirled around as the two prickleboars neared, sweeping her foot to the side to slam into the flank of one of the animals while simultaneously using the momentum to jerk her body out of the way of their charge. When the other prickleboar went to gore her in the stomach, she leapt backwards in an agile backflip, her raven hair whipping behind her as she did so. As she landed, in retaliation, she let out a fierce cry and slammed her iron boot straight into the beast with sheer force, hurtling it off to the side, causing it to tumble on the ground and struggle around trying get its feet underneath itself.

And then Sorey arrived at the scene just in time to sink his ceremonial sword deep into the boar's broadside.

A clean, ethical kill.

Without missing a beat, Velvet burst into a sprint and jerked her arm, slashing her gauntlet blade at the other boar that had begun to charge furiously at Sorey, forcing it to dodge lest it wished to be cut. Heaving and snorting in fury, the boar scrambled back and away from her sword, turning its glare upon her instead. Pure hatred blazed within its eyes as it glanced between the body of its mother and sister at the hands of these two murderers. Tendrils of purple had begun to emit from its hide.

It charged at her.

And then it all ended in a flash. Once the adrenaline had faded, Velvet blinked, belatedly recognizing what had just happened.

Two swords impaled the boar's body from two different directions. One was ceremonial, the other purely utilitarian. Both had gone through the skin and lungs to pierce straight through the animal's heart. Sorey had charged over to come to her aid, lunging forward and intercepting the prickleboar just as it had neared her. At the same time, she had fell into a cartwheel, smoothly dodging the animal's charge and thrown her gauntlet blade into the animal's opposite side as it had passed her. Catching her breath, she met Sorey's exhilarated eyes from across the animal.

Both of them shared a soft chuckle as the thrill of the hunt passed through them in the wake of it all.

High above the watering hole, the circling hawk let out another cry as the two began to move about the area, collecting their bloody spoils. They worked smoothly and efficiently, field dressing the wounded animals and gathering them up in nets in preparation for transporting them back to camp.

As they worked, Sorey glanced briefly over his shoulder at his companion before refocusing on his task at hand. "That went really well." He commented brightly.

"Yeah, that wasn't bad." She agreed, tying some gauze around the prickleboar's body with a firm tug.

"You had the exact same idea as I did." He pointed out, rolling his prickleboar onto a net laid out on the ground. "You knew that once one prickleboar goes down, the rest almost always stop running and come to attack you."

"Of course. They're familial creatures." Velvet remarked, gathering up her own net. "If you hurt one, the rest of them will want to hurt you back. That's also why prickleboars are often considered dangerous to hunt."

"Does that bother you?" Sorey asked curiously, finishing up his work and turning to her curiously.

Velvet gave him a considering glance over her shoulder. "…Did it ever bother you?" She asked back.

Sorey openly nodded, sheathing his hunting knife and settling back on the grass, staring contemplatively out into the calm watering hole. "It did for a long time." He admitted. "It took a long while for me to get used to the idea of hunting. Especially hunting animals that obviously care about one another. Doing stuff like this…" His lips formed into a soft grin. "I don't think Mikleo ever really got the hang of the idea, even at the end. But he does agree with me that it's how the world works, ultimately." He glanced down at the body of the animal before him with a soft expression. "Sometimes… you just have to do what you have to do."

Velvet looked away, back at the bloodied corpse in front of her and was quiet for a while. The soft scrunching of her knife in boar flesh filled the silence that followed.

"…Were you taught?" She asked abruptly, without looking at him.

Sorey blinked. "No," he shook his head, "not really. While there were a few seraphim in Elysia who had a few tips for me here and there… For the most part, I figured it out from reading books about the topic."

She let out a scoff in response. "Of course." She commented dryly.

He grinned sheepishly at her. "I guess that was kinda predictable, huh?" He cocked his head. "I take it you were?"

Velvet nodded distantly in response. "I was." She replied shortly.

Entirely unconcerned with her lack of elaboration, Sorey got to his feet and walked over to the edge of the watering hole, reaching into the waters and beginning to scrub his bloodstained hands clean.

"I wish I'd had someone to teach me." He commented conversationally. "My first time out, I was so noisy that I didn't so much as see a single prickleboar in all of Elysia even after a whole day of being out in the forest." He grinned nostalgically. "Gramps rolled his eyes and just waved me off with a rare smile when he saw me tromping back into the village with nothing but muddy boots and empty hands. I don't think any of the seraphim in the village saw me as a viable hunter back then, and for good reason."

"You got there though, in the end." Velvet pointed out as she too finished her work, tying up the net encompassing the prickleboar on the ground. She gave Sorey a nod of genuine recognition. "You're a great hunter."

Sorey grinned brightly in response. "And you're not too bad yourself!" He complemented. "I don't think I could ever pull those moves on retreating prickleboars, even in a few thousand years."

Velvet gave him a nod in response, accepting the complement.

Smoothly, she drew herself to her feet, surveying both her and Sorey's handiwork, evidently satisfied with the result. She met his eyes. "Time to go back."

He nodded in response, also getting to his feet. "I'm sure the others are starving by now." He glanced down at the corpses of the family of prickleboars at their feet with a more serious expression. "Let's make absolutely sure these guys don't go to waste."

"Of course." Velvet agreed.

And with that, the two of them began to lug the field-dressed prickleboars back the way they'd came. The sun continued to shine brightly over the vibrant watering hole, and the forest returned to serenity.

---​

Chunks of meat bubbled in the stew, slowly but thoroughly cooking in the large, partially covered pot perched over the hot campfire built in the shadow of a tall oak tree. The smoke of the low-burning fire wafted lazily into the air above the lake, accompanied by the distinct, mouth-watering scent of meat expertly mixed with various, well-proportioned seasonings.

Alisha couldn't help but glance over her shoulder once more and stare hungrily at the stew cooking over the campfire behind where she was sitting, where Mikleo was artfully managing the flames.

"Be patient. It's almost done."

The princess, despite herself, couldn't help but let out a soft sight of disappointment and turn away from the stew to face the bemused expression of Velvet Davidson, who was idly sharpening her gauntlet blade beside her at the edge of the lake.

"…I know." Alisha shook her head ruefully, fisting her hands. "I just wish it would cook faster!" She muttered sourly. "It smells so good…"

Edna sat down next to her with a wry expression. "Looks like going from a princess to a traveler takes some getting used to, huh?" She shrugged. "Typical."

Alisha glanced at the seraph and slowly nodded her head. "…You're right. It does."

Her back straightened. "Nevertheless." She furrowed her eyebrows in determination. "If I can't manage something as minor as this, I'm worthless as both a knight and as a princess." She pushed her gaze straight forward, her chin tilting upwards proudly. "I shall soldier through it, just as anybody else in this realm. For that is the duty of the knight." She declared.

Behind the princess's back, Velvet gave Edna a dry look. "…You know just what to say to her, don't you?" The therion remarked with bemusement.

Edna shot back with a dry look of her own. "Speak for yourself."

Velvet let out an amused huff in response and turned back to her work, running the grindstone down the length of her extended gauntlet blade with a soft, level screech once more.

Turning back to the other two women, Alisha found her eyes drawn once more to the weapon strapped to Velvet's arm. She laid her head on her fist as she followed the movement of the grindstone along the razor-sharp edge of the weapon.

"…Hunting for one's own food." She murmured contemplatively.

"I went with Sorey on a hunting trip of his back in Elysia and experienced it firsthand." She recounted. "Yet even now, I could never imagine myself sustaining such a lifestyle." She abruptly turned curiously to Edna sitting beside her, who was fiddling with her unopened umbrella. "Lady Edna, might I ask how you sustained yourself in the past, being a seraph and all?" She inquired.

Edna shrugged in response. "…My brother did most of the work in the beginning." She explained with a soft tone.

"He taught me most everything I knew before he left. How to maintain a small garden. How to cook and ration my own food. How to take things from the local human town in ways that wouldn't be noticed." She twirled her closed umbrella in her hand idly. "I never hunted, though. I never felt the need to do something that drastic." She finished.

"I see…" Alisha blinked. "Wait, before your brother left-?"

"As for me," Velvet interrupted, drawing Alisha's attention away from Edna, "hunting was a source of both food and income." She idly angled her sword away from her and began working on the other side with the grindstone. "Since my village was in the frontier, there were plenty of people who did something similar, all to support their own families."

"You mean to say everyone did the same thing in your town?" Alisha tilted her head to the side, eager for more firsthand knowledge of her subjects.

"Not at all." Velvet clarified, her eyes growing distant as she perfunctorily continued her task. "Most everyone in town had a different trade that they specialized in, and in turn offered services to the rest of the townsfolk. Some merchants, a few innkeepers, farmers…"

A smile began to creep up into her expression, her grindstone sliding slowly across edge of the keenly sharp blade glinting in the daylight.

"I had a friend of mine whose family were tailors by trade. She could effortlessly sew things in minutes that I could never even dream of making." She recounted softly, her lips upturning into a gentle curve. "On the other hand," she remarked warmly, "she was utterly hopeless as a hunter. Not only could she not bring herself to hurt so much as a fly, but her clumsiness would've driven game out of the whole woods the moment she set foot in them. All she could do was ask me or one of the other hunters in town for meat whenever she needed it." Soft nostalgia had seeped into her expression, while her sharpening stone had slowed to a perfunctory speed.

Alisha and Edna exchanged glances.

Finding her voice, Alisha tilted her head in acknowledgement. "…I see." She said simply. "It seems it was wrong of me to assume that all rural dwellers are of the same cut of cloth." She smiled brightly. "It sounds like this friend of yours is quite the character! I'd love to meet her someday. It sounds like the two of us might have more in common than one would first think."

"…Yeah." Velvet replied softly, letting her eyes fall back onto the grindstone and the sword in her hands.

Alisha glanced over her shoulder at the simmering pot still hanging over the campfire and noticed Lailah sitting silently behind her on one of the protruding roots of the oak tree. "Lailah?" She asked, cocking her head curiously as she pivoted her body to include the fire seraph in the conversation. "How about you? What was your lifestyle like back in the day?"

"Oh!" At Alisha's prompt, Lailah blinked rapidly, her eyes refocusing on the world before her as she was torn from whatever was distracting her. "Me?" She put a hand on her chest, evidently confused.

"Is there anybody else here called Lailah?" Edna asked dryly, rolling her eyes.

Covering her mouth with her casting cards, Lailah let out a chuckle. "Ah, yes. You do make a good point." Her smile soon faded and instead she turned to the rest of them in thought as she considered the question seriously. "…What I did back in the day…" She mumbled to herself as she put a thoughtful finger to her chin, her eyes once again growing distant.

After a moment, her expression fell.

"I… I'm afraid I don't… actually remember too well." She confessed softly.

Velvet blinked, her grindstone abruptly halting on the blade. "You forgot how you lived?" She asked incredulously.

Lailah met her eyes with an unreadable expression. "…It comes part and parcel with being as old of a seraph as I am, I'm afraid." She explained softly, shaking her head. "Given enough time, some things are so unimportant that they just… disappear, eventually."

"…I see." Velvet said after a moment, before resuming her task.

Beside her, Alisha seemed profoundly influenced by the notion.

All around them, the bright summer day continued. The sparkling waters of the lake bubbled and lapped against the land while the softly glowing fire continued in the shadows of the oak tree, encouraging the pungent, aromatic scent of boiled meat to waft higher into the crisp air. A paddling of ducks at a distant end of the lake quacked in the daylight, accompanied by the whisper of wind rustling the surrounding foliage occupying the overgrown ruins.

Abruptly, Velvet's blade sank back into its gauntlet sheath with a quick squeal of metal on metal.

The woman got to her feet and dusted off her clothes, idly rolling her shoulders as she looked around, eventually finding Sorey and Mikleo a ways away from their camp, opposite the lake talking about something or other. "Edna." She prompted without looking away.

Edna looked up at her idly.

Velvet glanced over her shoulder at her. "Don't let Alisha have any stew until I say it's ready." She ordered dryly, before breaking into a brisk, purposeful trot down towards the Shepherd.

"Sure." Edna answered as she left.

Alisha flinched. "I-I wasn't going to!" She denied unconvincingly, quickly snapping a glance at the extraordinarily tender-looking stew visible under the partially covered lid on the pot, and the exquisite aroma that constantly beckoned her toward it.

Shaking her head in exasperated amusement, Lailah watched idly as Velvet Crowe sauntered up to Sorey and Mikleo in the distance, putting a hand on her hip and striking up a conversation with the two of them. Eventually, the three of them came to an agreement and Mikleo walked off to the side, crossing his arms in ready anticipation while Velvet and Sorey got into positions, preparing their weapons.

It wasn't long before Velvet made the first lunge, her sword flying out of its sheath only to crash roughly into Sorey's hastily made guard as he raised his ceremonial sword. The clanging of steel on steel began to ring in the air, ebbing and flowing naturally with the course of the sparring session.

Lailah leant back in her seat, letting her long hair gather in front of her before resting her head on the weathered oak trunk behind her. Her eyes went up to the leaves covering the blue sky above, distant and contemplative.

The ducks continued to quack as they paddled through the sparkling waters, the sound mingling with the sound of deadly weapons clashing against each other ringing noisily over the lake's surface.

---​

"SAINT'S ARROW!"

CRASH!

The jet of razor-sharp water mana flashed across the area, throwing the heavily shadowed overgrown stone plaza into stark blue lighting for a split second before the projectile pierced through the violet pulsating skin of the massive plant hellion, eliciting a horrific, ear-grating squeal that echoed off the surrounding walls and trees.

Steel armored boots slammed on the vines covering the ancient brick floor as Alisha charged the wounded monster with unmatched ferocity, her spear singing through the damp air.

Accompanying her charge, Lailah spun around in a circle and jerked her index finger into the sky with a cry, letting off an explosion that sent a strong shockwave flying across the surrounding woods, rattling trees and ancient overgrown structures built within the deepest part of the Bors Ruins.

The towering armed plant hellion jerked back from the explosion, hissing vehemently as it was scorched by the flames, only to cry out once more as Alisha's spear slashed right across its right appendage, causing a spout of what could best be described as green blood to gouge out onto the floor. In retaliation, the plant pivoted on its rounded body, bringing its other appendage around to bear and smash it into Alisha's body, sending the princess flying.

"Ah!" Alisha cried, tumbling over herself as she landed, keeping a firm grip on her spear despite herself.

A human hand suddenly slammed onto her shoulder, forcibly wrenching her body up and to her feet, causing her to belatedly register the massive hellion slinging one of its extended appendages straight at her prone form.

"Move!" Velvet snarled, half pulling, half dragging the princess out of the way right as the prickled fist of the Evil Plantasm smashed onto the ground where she just was. In retaliation, the woman twisted around jerked her sword into the air where the extended appendage had landed.

With surprising agility, the hellion twisted its body, avoiding Velvet's sword with its left arm and bringing its extended right arm around, attempting to slam it into her back.

CRASH!

Only to squeal in dismay and recoil away from another azure projectile as Sorey, armatized with Mikleo, let off another shot from behind it, directing its attention away from the two women. This was compounded as Edna slammed her foot onto the stone floor, eliciting a ferocious tremor to shake the plaza, thoroughly disorienting their foe.

Trusting the rest of the group to take off the heat for a while, Velvet turned around and knelt down next to Alisha who was lying on the stone floor, heaving for breath. Quickly and efficiently, Velvet zeroed in on the damage; a quickly-forming bruise on the princess's stomach.

"Sorey!" She yelled out, her voice carrying across the clearing, barely auditable above the charges of mana exploding as the plant hellion retaliated against the group with its own artes.

The Shepherd let out a grunt of acknowledgement as he dove to the side to avoid a violent spike of earth jutting out from the ground, his long golden hair of his Armatus trailing behind his movements. "What do you need?" He yelled back, getting to his feet and drawing his bow once more in retaliation.

"Healing artes!" She replied shortly, getting to her feet and jerking her sword at a flying appendage that was getting too close to her and Alisha. "Get Mikleo over here!"

"Right away!" In a flash of bright yellow light that lit up the darkened clearing, Sorey once more reappeared in his normal human form, his white cloak flapping wildly in the artificial breeze. He swiftly reached down and pulled out his sword, stepping forward and holding it out horizontally above his head as one of the Plantasm's fists came hurtling down upon him.

CRASH!

"Mikleo! Go!" He yelled, heaving with exertion as he fought the monster's unnatural strength as it bore down upon him and his sword. He let out a grunt as the monster lifted its fist only to slam it once more back down upon his sword, his boots digging painfully into the ground with his entire body feeling as it were being crushed.

Having reappeared at the same time as Sorey, the water seraph followed his orders. "Edna!" He shouted urgently as he broke into a dead sprint towards the other side of the plaza where Velvet was defending Alisha from the monster's simultaneous assault.

"Learn some humility!" Edna demanded, twirling her umbrella around sharply as the mana swirled around her body, whipping the ribbons on her outfit. "Air pressure!" She declared, conjuring four hovering beams of light surrounding the Phantasm that was assaulting both Sorey and Velvet.

BANG!

With a grunt, Mikleo slid to a kneeling stop before Alisha's prone form, conjuring up his staff and quickly taking in the situation as Edna's arte detonated over their adversary, relieving Sorey of the pressure and allowing Velvet to charge forward, capitalizing on her enemy's distracted state. With swift movements, the water seraph held his staff out horizontally before the injured princess. "You'll be fine, Alisha." He promised. "First Aid!" He recited, letting the mana flow through his body in a brilliant flash of colorful light.

Coughing, Alisha pushed herself up to her knees as the light faded, giving Mikleo a grateful look as the pain began to die down. "I apologize for being so careless." She intoned, readjusting her grip on her spear once more. "Thank you, Mikleo."

The seraph gave her a nod in return, holding her gaze for just a while longer before turning away.

Meanwhile, Velvet and Sorey ran forward together, facing down the monster at close range with their swords singing through the air. Explosions and tremors shook the world around them as seraphic artes crashed into their adversary at dangerously close ranges. Chaos reigned supreme, and yet all that mattered to the two of them was the monster before them.

Struck by an utterly random thought, Sorey found himself grinning as he leapt backwards, dodging one of the plant hellion's fists as it slammed into the ground in front of him.

Panting, he remarked, "Oh yeah, Velvet!" He yelped as another fist went flying inches in front of his face, causing him to duck and slash his sword up in retaliation, eliciting a bellow of agony. He glanced over his shoulder briefly. "I forgot to tell you earlier; your prickleboar stew tastes really good!" He grinned brightly, sweat running down his forehead.

Velvet couldn't help herself when she shot him an incredulous look, even as she gracefully leapt over a low-sweeping appendage, her sword singing through the air as she swung it at her foe in retaliation. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?" She demanded.

"Well, I had a thought. I was wondering-" Sorey's eyes widened and he quickly leapt back, his sword held out at a canted angle to deflect a harsh punch. "-if you could possibly give Mikleo some pointers next time?" He gave Velvet a grin. "He was really impressed by your cooking earlier but was too shy to ask you for help." With a grunt, he lunged forward, driving a deep gash on the monster's flank, splattering the ground with even more blood.

Velvet couldn't help but roll her eyes at that as she too lunged forward, driving her sword through an equally deep gouge in the opposite side of the monster's body. With a sharp exhale, she leapt forward and dodged the hellion's wild retaliatory swing, landing close to Sorey who too managed to avoid the attack. "If he wants pointers all he has to do is ask. The worst that can happen is that I say no." She pointed out dryly before the two of them split up once more to flank the monster as more seraphic artes bombarded its body.

Alisha let out a yell as she too joined the close-ranged assault on the hellion, driving her spear deeply across the monster's skin before quickly leaping back and out of its range, having learned her lesson from last time. She glanced at Velvet. "I must confess, however, that I do understand Mikleo's reluctance to approach you regarding the subject." With a grunt the princess rolled out of the way of another fist flying at her. "You… do simply seem to exhibit a sort of… dangerous aura, I guess… you could say." She remarked, panting for breath as she regained her footing.

Sorey let out a laugh while leaping backwards and out of range. "That's putting it lightly, Alisha!" He breathed, glancing around and gauging the situation. "I don't blame him at all, really."

Velvet rolled her eyes once more at the two of them. "Please." She drawled easily. "It's not like I'm going to eat him alive for annoying me."

She blinked abruptly, freezing on the spot.

"Velvet!" Alisha and Sorey yelled together in abrupt alarm.

CRASH!

It was only by pure instinct that Velvet managed to avoid the worst of the impact as the plant hellion slammed both fists directly onto her position. Shredded rocks slammed into her body, tearing at her skin as she leapt backwards, having come extraordinarily close to being smashed onto the stone by the full power of the monster's fists. Hissing in pain, the woman managed to spin around in the air and find the ground with her feet, landing hard on the stones a way away from the Plantasm.

"PURGATORY OF FLAME!"

FWOOM!

The world abruptly lit up in a blinding hue of blazing orange as Sorey, having suddenly armatized with Lailah, smashed his great sword onto the ground before the plant hellion with a tremendous bellow, followed by an earth-shattering detonation centered at the tip of the sword. Flames shot out in all directions, encasing the weakened Plantasm and wreathing it in a cloak of blazing flames. Its screeches echoed throughout the Bors Ruins, grating on the group's ears as it suffered from the continuous gout of flame pumped through Sorey's Armatus.

Eventually, the screeches faded and the fire died down, revealing the smoldering fallen body of the Evil Plantasm on the scorched bricks of the plaza at Sorey's feet.

"You alright?" Sorey was the first to reach Velvet's kneeling form in the aftermath of the battle, gasping for breath as he dispelled the Armatus from his body.

Velvet shook her head, standing smoothing back up to full height with an unreadable expression. "Don't worry about it." She dismissed shortly, pushing the dirt off her knees. Her eyebrows narrowed.

"…I was careless." She near growled under her breath, looking away.

Sorey blinked in confusion at the raw frustration evident in the woman's dark expression.

He ultimately chose not to comment on it. "Well," he said, turning back to the rest of the group as they regrouped around the two of them, "now that that's taken care of, the blessing should return to Marlind." He concluded, giving his followers a smile with his hands on his hips. "Nice work, everyone. Together, we took down quite the formidable opponent today."

"Indeed." Alisha nodded, walking over to his side. "I must say, we've all come a long way when it comes to quelling hellions." She remarked.

Mikleo came to a halt next to them all, a satisfied fist on his hip. "Indeed. I'd say Sorey in particular has gotten quite proficient at fighting hellions off, even without the aid of the Armatus." He commented.

Edna twirled her opened umbrella perched on her shoulder. "Not bad." She remarked. "As far as Shepherds go, you're not the worst to ever live, I suppose."

Sorey scratched his cheek wryly. "I'll take that as a complement." He supposed happily. He turned to face them all. "Thanks, all of you." He addressed them. "But we still have a long way to go, I'm sure."

"Of course." Lailah commented softly, a small, happy smile on her face.

A damp breeze blew through the clearing in the wake of battle, rustling the thick leaves above and causing rays of light to flicker briefly through the tree coverage before being once more obscured as the breeze died down.

And it was in the silence in the wake of the breeze that Velvet, standing away from the rest of them with her enhanced senses, heard it before anyone else did.

She turned around in what felt like slow motion. The information slid into her brain slow as molasses as the elements registered.

Sorey, his body turned with his left side facing the group.

There, behind him, the monster that they thought they had defeated rising silently as a ghostly specter in the darkened plaza, a single, bloodied fist poised high in the air and ready to fall upon the Shepherd, crushing him in one fell blow as all of his companions' backs were turned. And as for the Shepherd himself, for some reason, he apparently did not perceive the threat despite it being well within view of his right eye.

She didn't hesitate.

"SCARLET EDGE!"

BANG!

Blood pounding in her ears, Velvet belatedly registered what had happened. What she had just done. There she stood, her sword drawn and held high in the air, having expelled a gout of flame out of her sword while feeling the expelled mana surging through her body in the aftermath of the expulsion of a hidden arte.

Too much mana.

A massive crater had formed in the wake of the detonation, with the fallen body of the hellion lying in the middle, its faint twitching showing that it was still alive, albeit barely so. The blast of the overcharged hidden arte had been enough to rupture the canopy of the forest above, causing charred leaves and twigs to rain down into the crater and leaving a wide gap in the tree cover through which blindingly bright sunlight now streamed through with impunity.

A shocked silence fell in the wake of the explosion.

Mikleo was the first one to react. "Velvet…?" He asked in a shaky voice. "Was that… you?"

Velvet's mind raced for a way to escape this predicament she'd stupidly brought upon herself. There was no human in the world, regardless of arte proficiency or knowledge in seraphic artes, who would've been able to expel as much mana she had just now. She mentally floundered, seeking a way to retain her cover.

"That was partly my doing as well."

Velvet blinked in surprise.

Together, the group turned to face Lailah at the back of the group, who appeared to be wavering on her feet with a tired expression. She gave them an easy, albeit exhausted smile. "It would seem that Velvet and I had the same idea at the same time. Our simultaneous artes must've inadvertently compounded to produce such a… potent result." She explained thoughtfully.

"…Incredible." Mikleo remarked, impressed. He turned to Velvet with a disbelieving smile. "You know, for a moment there I thought that all that power came from just you."

At his side, Edna rolled her eyes as she twirled her umbrella. "A human with that much power? Yeah, right. Typical Meebo, always jumping to the kind of conclusions that make absolutely no sense."

Mikleo's eye twitched in response. He opened his mouth with full retaliation in mind.

As the two of them began to bicker and the topic slowly shifted away from the freak incident, Velvet's eyes subtly moved to meet Lailah's.

Subtly, ever so subtly, the aged fire seraph gave the Lord of Calamity a small nod. Nothing more needed to be said.

Velvet stared back.

Abruptly forcing her eyes away from the reserved fire seraph and forcing her thoughts to focus on something else, she found herself zeroing in on Sorey, thinking back to what had just happened.

And just like that, the frustration boiled over.

Jerking her arm to sheathe her sword, Velvet stalked straight up to Sorey, interrupting the meaningless chattering of Edna and Mikleo and stopping directly in front of the Shepherd, scowling deeply at his questioning expression.

"Just what the hell is wrong with you?" The harsh words came out almost as a growl.

Sorey blinked in confusion. "Wh-?"

"Your right eye." Velvet crossed her arms forcefully, tapping her bicep in agitation. "You can't see out of it, can you?" She raised an eyebrow, daring him to deny it.

Sorey looked away slowly, his lips pressed firmly together.

Edna lazily lifted a hand. "You can't hide it anymore." She pointed out. "It's obvious you didn't see it coming." Her eyes narrowed. "…If it weren't for Velvet and Lailah, you'd be dead." Her statement was firm and unrelenting.

Lailah stepped forward urgently, her expression set. "So. The Squire's pact is affecting you…" She breathed. "Oh, Sorey. Why did you hide this from us…?" She asked helplessly.

Alisha's short intake of breath in response to Lailah's comment was not lost on anyone on the group. The princess covered her mouth in horror as the full implications of the revelation sank in.

Mikleo glanced over at Alisha quickly before taking an impassioned step forward. "Sorey was only hiding it for Alisha's sake!" He insisted. "You can't fault him for that!"

"…Oh, I sure as hell can."

Everyone turned as Velvet turned her glare upon Mikleo. "And more than that, you're telling me," she growled, "you knew about this, all this time?" her eyes burrowed into his. "And you didn't do anything about it?" She demanded.

Mikleo, despite being clearly intimidated, swallowed and stood his ground.

"…It was Sorey's choice whether he wanted to do anything about it. I respected that." He stated.

"Then you're a terrible friend." Velvet's words were harsh and pointed.

Mikleo flinched as her words hit him, staring at her incredulously.

"If Lailah and I hadn't been fast enough just now, Sorey would've died." Velvet emphasized sharply. "And if he had died, then it would've been purely because of a poor decision he himself made… one that you had allowed."

"How would you have felt?" She demanded, taking a step forward. "How would you have felt, living with the knowledge that your best friend is dead because even though you knew he was making a mistake, you let him keep doing it? How would you have felt, knowing that it was ultimately your decision to prioritize your friend's feelings rather than your own damn sense that led to his death?" Her words were soft but charged with righteous fury and disbelief.

"…More than that, apparently you seem to have forgotten that he's the Shepherd." She added lowly. "By letting him do this to himself, you're an abject failure as both a friend and a sub-lord."

Mikleo seemed to grasp for words but came up empty handed.

Velvet shook her head harshly and continued. "…I don't know him well enough to tell these things about him." She admitted quietly. "Nobody here does but you." She held his gaze with an iron grip. "And despite that, you chose to do nothing about the danger he's been putting himself in." She waved a hand in the air. "I guess in the end, you don't actually care all that much about him, do you?" She asked sardonically.

She let out a sigh, turning away from Mikleo's shaken expression and meeting Sorey's eyes with her own livid ones.

"As for you… You need to drop this act." She growled lowly. "You can't pretend to be capable of saving the world if you aren't even capable of recognizing what needs to be done to save yourself."

Sorey opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out. He was speechless.

"Don't." Velvet swatted her bandaged hand in the air in response. "I have nothing else to say to you."

Sorey's shoulders slumped more as the true weight of what Velvet was saying sank in. "…I see." He intoned softly.

Watching the boy in front of her lower his gaze shamefully before her, Velvet just huffed sharply. Abruptly, she turned on her heel and began walking towards the exit of the ruins. Just as abruptly, she stopped next to Alisha and looked over her shoulder at the distraught princess.

"…It's not your damn fault." Velvet assured her lowly. Her eyes flitted disdainfully to Sorey behind her.

"It's the Shepherd's."

And with those words, she turned and stalked off, leaving the rest of the group to follow in her wake. Behind them all, the sunlight continued to shine through the hole in the canopy, illuminating the fallen burnt body of the plant hellion slowly bleeding onto the floor of the ancient ruins.

---​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 10 - Sins.

Dawn wasn't far off. The world was one of knee-high grass, waving softly in the silence befitting that of the quietest time of the night. Darkness engulfed everything as far as the eye could see, obscuring the distant features of the land and reducing them to mere silhouettes framing the brilliant canvas of stars accompanied by the partially filled moon hanging overhead.

Sorey slowly slid to his feet, his boots crunching rather noisily on the trodden dry grass besides the lone boulder he had been sitting on. Laying his hand on the pommel of his sword, the Shepherd made his way into position, meeting the blood red eyes of his opponent across the field.

The cold hard steel of its mask glinted in the night, the flare of the reflected moonlight framing its inhuman red eyes as it stared emotionlessly back at him. It stood there, wreathed in its ever-simmering cloak of malevolence, silent and unreadable; a terrifying being lurking beneath an opaque veil of tranquility.

A moment of silence passed.

And then the two opposing entities sprang into motion like clockwork, charging at each other underneath the curtain of stars. Both claw and sword sang as they sliced through the air towards each other.

CLANG!

The first strike was always the most jarring for Sorey. Recovering as best he could from the impact, he managed to retaliate quickly enough with a slash that forced the hellion to leap back to avoid it. Gratified by this start to the battle, the Shepherd took a step forward and pressed his attack with another slash.

The steel of his ceremonial sword bounced right off the monster's parry this time as it smacked the blade away as if it were an irritating fly. Without missing a beat, the hellion arced its claw downwards and slashed, mowing a swathe of grass as it made to sweep the him off his feet.

Sorey barely managed to jump over the claw, landing clumsily on one foot while the other flailed momentarily for balance. When the hellion's follow-up slash came, the attack rammed directly into his gut at full speed, sending him flying.

CRASH!

Gritting his teeth in pain, Sorey jerked his eyes open to find the sky spinning directly above him as he laid amidst a cloud of dirt and displaced grass. Spitting out blood from his mouth and cursing himself for stupidly biting his tongue, the Shepherd recovered as quickly as he could, bringing his sword up.

Just in time to parry a massive fist pounding down upon his head. On instinct, Sorey hastily guarded at a canted angle that let the monstrous appendage slide off his sword, eliciting a grating squeal accompanied by a brilliant burst of sparks. Letting out a wordless cry, Sorey forced the claw away and to the side, bringing his sword back for a powerful diagonal slash across the hellion's body.

His attack met only air as the hellion dodged his attack fluidly with almost frustrating ease. Still, he wasn't deterred in the least. Eyes narrowing, Sorey swung his sword once more, his body thrumming with both adrenaline and purpose. The rhythm of battle continued, growing smoother and smoother as the night progressed.

Amidst the sweat, exertion, and pain that he had come to associate with such nightly training sessions, came the clarity Sorey had wanted.

"You're an abject failure as both a friend and a sub-lord."

The harsh, grating words Velvet had attacked Mikleo with earlier resounded just as clearly in his ears as did the sound of steel meeting hardened flesh as he once more traded blows with the masked hellion.

He jerked his sword arm back and proceeded to unleash a flurry of rapid, indiscriminate stabs in the hellion's direction.

The monster responded by leaping up and over his sword strikes while slinging its entire cloaked body around in a back flip, bringing its claw down and onto his body at a merciless angle. The blow connected with bone-crushing force.

"As for you."

Sorey groaned as he rolled to a halt in the grass, his entire body aching from the sheer force of the blow. He forced himself to get up on a knee, heaving for breath and wiping some more blood leaking from the side of his mouth with the back of his Shepherd's glove.

"You can't pretend to be capable of saving the world..."

He blinked hard and cursed as he dove out of the way of a conjured fireball screaming towards him. The boiling heat washed over the back of his neck as it missed him by a hair. A distant explosion rattled the world as the errant fireball crashed in the distance, briefly brightening up the world and obscuring the stars.

"…If you aren't even capable of recognizing what needs to be done to save yourself."

The Shepherd got to his feet again with his sword still tightly held in his hand, his cape fluttering in the breeze of the shockwave. He narrowed his eyes and forced himself to focus on the threat before him as the artificial light faded. He squared his shoulders and held his sword above his head readily as the hellion charged him once more, undeterred.

"…It's not your damn fault."

Sorey let out a wordless cry as he was sent flying through the air once more, hurtling through the air from the pure shockwave generated by the explosion that the hellion had conjured at point-blank range in front of him.

"It's the Shepherd's."

CRASH!

It took far too long for his senses to return to him in the aftermath of his impact in the grass this time.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the world began to regain coherency. The sound of the grass surrounding his fallen body waving softly in the wind eventually reached his ringing ears, while the cavern of stars above him came back into view as the spots left his vision. Painfully heaving for breath, Sorey forced his muscles to clench, laboriously getting to his feet with his ceremonial sword still firmly gripped in his right hand. Still panting for breath, he took a moment to regain his bearings as the world stopped spinning around him.

The sound of something charging right at him quickly drew his attention.

"Stop!" He demanded loudly, squared his shoulders to the attacking hellion charging him. "That's enough!"

His voice echoed throughout the darkened fields. Punctuating his point, Sorey forcibly shoved his sword back into its sheath at his hip and instead crossed his arms, holding the approaching hellion evenly in his gaze.

The cloaked hellion came to a sliding halt before him, staring emotionlessly back at him.

In the distance, the first hints of a new day were beginning to form. Lighter swathes of darkness radiated out from beyond the sky, gently coaxing out colors and form from the distant mountains and forests that made up the distant horizon. Daybreak was fast approaching, and with it, the start of a new day.

Sorey abruptly broke into a tired, grateful smile, letting the tension drain slowly from his shaky body.

"I… I know what I have to do now." He breathed tiredly, shifting on his feet and letting his arms dangle at his sides.

He gave the hellion across the field from him a deep, grateful nod, catching his breath. "Thanks for your help." He intoned, holding the red-eyed monster's gaze respectfully with his own. With that having been said, Sorey turned his back to it and set off, striding determinedly into the fading night.

Behind the mask, Velvet Crowe watched motionlessly as the utterly beaten and tired Shepherd walked off determinedly into the breaking dawn, her lips drawn together in a fine line.

She didn't see a boy walking away from a fight he'd lost. Rather, she felt as if she were watching a man walking forward with a purpose in mind.

A man, – with just a hint, however obscure – of the regality and dignity befitting of that of a proper Shepherd.

His boots crunching with the dry grass he trod underfoot with each step, Sorey made his way back to camp, his eyes forward towards the brightening horizon. His cape, dirtied and soiled, flapped regally in the morning breeze.

---​

"Alisha?"

The princess stopped a few feet away from the gates of Marlind and glanced over her shoulder at Sorey as he and the rest of the group caught up with her. "Sorey?" She replied, coming to a halt and turning to face him.

The canopy of the familiar Great Tree of Marlind hung far over their heads like an umbrella shielding the outskirts of town from the blistering heat of the midday sun. The gates of town were open, and within the walls of the plague town, the townsfolk could be seen going about their business. Nondistinctive, animated chattering could be heard sporadically from within – evidence of a bustling town on its way to recovering from the effects of a plague that had at last begun to slowly fade.

Just as they'd intended, the Shepherd and his group had been successful in dispelling the malevolence looming over the town by allowing the new Lord of the Land to reign over the area with the Great Tree as a pure vessel. Marlind would survive, given enough time, and establish itself as the artistic capital of the region one more. No more would its citizens suffer under dread and fear caused by rampant malevolence, by the grace of the Shepherd.

Yet this was the farthest thing from Sorey's mind as he set his jaw and held Alisha's gaze, standing before her at the entrance to the purified town. "I have something to say."

Behind him, Mikleo and Lailah exchanged a glance. Velvet stood behind them with her arms crossed, Edna standing solemnly beside her. The chirping of the birds and the chattering of the townsfolk became irrelevant as the elephant in the room was finally addressed.

"As do I." Alisha responded in kind, her expression growing resolute.

Sorey nodded. "Let me go first, then."

He held her gaze firmly as he began. "I… ignored things that shouldn't have been ignored, Alisha." He admitted. "I thought that if I just trusted that everything will be alright in the end, things… would just work themselves out, no matter how bad they might've seemed at the time."

He shook his head softly. "But Velvet was right. That was a stupid thing way for me to think." His eyes wandered over Alisha's shoulder towards the town of Marlind, his thoughts turning towards that one bloody night.

"…I suppose that, in ignoring the problem and just moving along with it all, I was really just being overconfident in myself." He grinned apologetically, his fingers idly drumming atop his sword pommel. "I was putting blind faith in my position as the Shepherd to overcome any obstacle imaginable, no matter the odds. I figured that I could just find the power within me to somehow keep things going. Keep things the way they were."

"But I'm not strong at all." He admitted. "I don't have that strength within me."

He shook his head as Alisha opened her mouth in protest. "I never did. Far from it. Thinking otherwise was just arrogance on my part." He insisted fervently, taking a heated step forward. "And I've come to realize that if I'm going to have any chance at all at helping the people around me, and have a shot at making my dream of coexistence between humans and seraphim a reality, then I'm going to have to be as strong and powerful as I can manage." He crossed his arms and nodded his head to himself, reaffirming his thoughts.

"…So, in order to achieve this as best as I can, I'm going to do something that I should've done a long time ago. One I really have nobody else to blame for not doing earlier but myself." He unfolded his arms and straightened his back, holding Alisha's gaze.

"Alisha, I'm going to ask that you rescind the squire's pact." He put simply.

A dull breeze blew in the wake of his words, filling the silence that followed. High up in the sky, the vast canopy of the pure Great Tree billowed gently in the wind, the thousands of leaves clacking together overhead resembling the crashing of waves on beach in the summer heat. Behind them all, Velvet watched on with grim approval.

Sorey broke the silence once more, apologetically scratching the back of his head. "…I'm really, really sorry that I have to do this, but really from what Lailah told me regarding the lack of a squire's own resonance and how that affects the pact and-"

Alisha held up a hand sharply, instantly silencing his rambling.

She nodded sharply, holding his gaze. "You need not be sorry." She reassured him. "As a knight, I was taught that sometimes things happen that are out of your control, and that you should make the best of that, regardless of how unfair or unjust you might perceive that thing to be."

Sorey blinked three times.

"…Alisha… you're not mad?" He asked hesitantly.

Alisha laughed incredulously, tilting her head curiously. "Oh, why in the world would I be angry at you, Sorey?"

She smiled brightly at him, intertwining her hands. "I have the right to be nothing but grateful to you, Sorey, for all that you've done for me and the people of this nation." She beamed at him. "Without your kindness and your openness, I would not know half of the things that I now know." Her eyes turned to the other companions of the Shepherd, her expression soft and bright. "Seraphim… hellions… malevolence…"

She met his eyes once more, firm and resolute.

"…While I will be most disappointed at not be able to travel with you all anymore…" She shook her head, her eyes glinting with determination. "I promise I will not stop being your squire, even if I no longer bear the title."

"Regardless of whatever happens in the coming years, you can trust that I, Alisha Diphda, Princess of Hyland, will continue to fight for a land without Malevolence, for Hyland and beyond, now and forever." She declared resolutely, her head held high and proud.

Sorey's expression had transitioned from surprise to fondness. "Alisha…!" He grinned back.

Behind him, Edna waved a hand lethargically. "You do realize that she was planning on leaving the moment she found out that the pact was causing you to lose your eyesight, right?" She asked dryly.

Lailah nodded deeply. "Indeed. That had been my conclusion as well."

"Oh." Alisha shuffled on her feet abashedly as she looked over at the seraphim. "Was I truly so transparent?"

Mikleo shook his head as he walked over. "Never mind that, what I want to know is what you plan on doing next." He gave her a concerned nod. "What will you do once we part ways?"

The princess answered respectfully, "You needn't concern yourself with me, Mikleo." Her gaze turned to sweep the rest of the group. "And neither should any of you."

She stiffened her shoulders. "I've decided to stay behind in Marlind for a while, to help find someone to properly give tribute to Rohan so that he can maintain his domain for years to come." She nodded to the rest of them. "And, once that has been completed, I shall report back to Ladylake about what happened here." She glanced at Sorey proudly. "About how the Shepherd helped save the town."

"…Sounds like you've got yourself figured out." Mikleo observed markedly, placing a hand on his hip. "I guess it was dumb of me to worry about you in the first place."

Lailah smiled happily. "Of course! Alisha is one strong princess. She'll do just fine without us, I've no doubt about it."

"Yeah." Edna twirled her opened umbrella, looking at Alisha in an idle glance. "You're pretty decent." She conceded. "For a human, at least." She added.

Mikleo's eye twitched. "Edna, can't you say something positive for once without undercutting it in the next sentence?" He implored.

"Depends." Edna shrugged. "Can't you say something not dumb for once?"

Mikleo exhaled out of his nose at length.

Hiding her chuckles behind her hand, Alisha turned to the last member of the group she had yet to address. "Velvet." She prompted.

The disguised therion met the princess's eyes.

"I must say," she remarked, glancing over her shoulder at Sorey, "it does my heart a great service, knowing that the Shepherd will have such a fine, experienced companion alongside him in his travels."

She nodded to herself, crossing her arms resolutely. "In much the same way that I was glad that I had my master Lady Maltran with me at my side for every step of the way, I'm sure Sorey will be glad to have you along as his steadfast companion as well." She gave Velvet a deep, grateful nod. "Thank you for everything. I wish you the best of luck in finding your cousin."

In turn, Velvet answered with a nod of her own.

"…Stay safe out there." She returned simply.

And with that having been said, Alisha turned and walked towards the entrance of Marlind before stopping and turning to face them all, her face set in determination and will. "All of you," she addressed formally, "I do not doubt I shall one day see you all again soon."

She gave them all one last genuine smile. "But for now, until our paths next converge, I wish you all farewell." She lifted one armored gauntlet as her final parting.

Sorey raised a solemn hand in kind. "Good luck, Alisha. I'm sure we'll see you again soon."

Alisha nodded, her expression strong and empowered. With that, the princess of Hyland turned around and parted ways with the Shepherd's group, headed off to fight her own battles for the betterment of mankind.

---​

"…Doesn't matter. You're it, quit whining!"

"I'm not whining- h-hey! Get back here!"

The loud sound of a raspberry blown by the little boy as he pelted away from the other child carried easily across the wide-open grassy field that made up the park of Marlind, located at the heart of the city besides the vast, aged trunk of the Great Tree.

Leaning easily against the backboard of a weathered oak bench placed near the entrance to the park, Velvet watched the boy and girl play in the distance as she idly enjoyed the bright sunshine streaming in through the canopy above onto the revitalized city. Sitting primly on the bench beside her, Edna too spectated upon the game of tag currently in progress in the middle of the park, her head resting on her fist.

Eventually, Velvet broke the calm silence. "Say… Edna?" The therion glanced over her shoulder at the seraph. "Whatever ended up happening to those nor dolls?" She paused as a thought occurred to her. "…Those and, for that matter," she added, "all that other stuff Eizen sent you?"

Edna slid her eyes shut and let out a drawn-out breath in irritation. "Oh boy." She muttered. Her eyes opened as she sent Velvet a glare. "For the record, I still hold you partially responsible for that mess."

Velvet raised an eyebrow. "Did you not like the gifts he sent you?"

"Let's just say that I could've built a second Rayfalke out of all the stuff my brother sent me over the years." Edna grumbled.

With irritation clear in her expression, the earth seraph twisted around and confronted Velvet. "Just what, exactly, was I supposed to do with a pot that was as heavy as myself?" She demanded incredulously.

"The things he sent me were just ridiculous." She tossed a hand disdainfully in the air. "How many paintings did he think I needed before I had enough decorations on my shrine? How many old, crusty things did he think I wanted lying around just asking for me to trip on?" She shook her head. "My brother was such an idiot."

With a hmph, she turned away, shaking her head some more.

A wry smirk had crept onto Velvet's lips in the aftermath of the seraph's tirade. "…You never threw any of that stuff away, did you?" She guessed knowingly.

Edna's only response was a wordless huff.

Velvet leaned forward in her seat, casually examining her bandaged hand. "I'm guessing that if I look hard enough in Rayfalke, I'll find a weathered old lair of ancient treasures filled to the brim with old, crusty things." She remarked wryly. "Am I wrong?"

"Why even ask if you know the answer already?" Edna shot back dourly.

The therion chuckled warmly. "Fair enough."

Velvet leaned back, watching the boy and girl playing tag on the other end of the park with a distant look. "…I guess I'm also guilty of keeping the gifts my brother gave me." She noted quietly.

Almost instinctually, her right hand slipped into her coat pocket, pulling out two jagged shards of amber. Her eyes turned soft as she considered the broken pieces.

Edna watched the therion keenly. "A broken comb." She observed impartially. "...I presume that has something to do with your younger brother?"

Velvet nodded wordlessly.

After a pause, Edna turned her head up to gaze at the expansive trunk of the Great Tree before them. "You sure you know what you're doing here, Velvet?" She asked quietly without looking at her.

Her meaning was crystal clear to both of them.

Velvet's fingers curled around the two broken comb pieces; her lips drawn in a stiff line. Her thoughts went back to the day before; the brief instant in which her act had slipped in the heat of the moment. For a single misguided second, she had simply forgotten her goal.

That wouldn't happen again. She'd make sure of it.

"…I'm sure." Velvet reaffirmed quietly.

Edna was silent.

The faint sound of clanking metal abruptly intruded upon the peace and quiet. The two of them turned and watched as a group of five armed men in orange uniforms strolled together through the grass towards her. The sunlight glinted off their polished steel armor, helmets, and sheathed swords as they easily tromped up to the bench where she was sitting. The joyful yells and shouts of the children continued on in the background.

"You're Velvet, right?" The leader asked. "You're with the Shepherd?"

She met the eyes of the leader and gave him a nod in acknowledgement. "And you're Lucas, head of the mercenaries that Sorey hired to protect town." She responded, idly returning the pieces of the comb back into her coat pocket.

"Correct." The ponytailed warrior gave a prideful grin in response, puffing out his chest with his hands on his hips. "We Woodsmen did a damn fine job, don't ya think?" He waved his muscular arms around in a grand gesture, indicating their surroundings. "Wasn't a single bandit nor rabid animal that got through on our watch. His money was well spent, I assure you."

Unseen by Lucas, Edna twirled her closed umbrella in her hands. "It's true, they didn't do too badly in the end." she supposed.

"But never mind that." Velvet turned her gaze back onto Lucas as he got to the point.

"We came looking for a chat with the Shepherd." The mercenary explained, crossing his arms seriously. "In their patrols, a few of my men came across some pretty significant holes in the defenses of the town that I think he might want to know about. We've already told the mayor of town, but I figured it would be best to have him in the know as well before we leave for our next gig."

"That's very thoughtful of you." Velvet observed impartially. "After all the effort you put into protecting the town, I'd imagine you would've left by now."

"Bah." Lucas swatted his hand dismissively in the air. "Don't make us out to be some sort of charity squad, missy." The scarred warrior gave her a crooked grin and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "It's just that some of the townsfolk helped us out while we were here. We're just paying our debts as any honest mercenaries would. That's all."

Velvet waved a hand in kind. "In any case, you can tell me where the issue is, and I'll let the Shepherd know."

"Sure." The weathered mercenary seemed to survey Velvet's appearance closely, shifting on his feet as he did so. "…But out of curiosity, what's the deal with you and him?" He cocked his head to the side. "A lot of us are wondering what's going on with that kid who's been going around calling himself the Shepherd, you see, ever since we took the job." He raised an eyebrow at her. "And I also can't help but wonder what you all really want, in the end."

He shrugged. "Not that you have to tell me." He added with a welcoming grin. "We don't really care too much about our clientele's personal stories; so long as they pay us, we're good."

"Hmph." Edna huffed. "Another doubting human. How utterly surprising." She remarked drolly, rolling her eyes.

In response to his question, Velvet crossed her arms and leant back in her seat, holding Lucas's scrutiny evenly. "The reason Sorey does the things he does is the same as the reason why you're all really staying behind to help in Marlind even after the end of your contract." She analyzed. "The same reason why you all even took such a risky contract in the first place without extorting Sorey for money."

She abruptly got to her feet, the chains on her outfit clinking quietly in the breeze. Her eyes travelled from Lucas's to the other five mercenaries behind him, carefully studying the expressions of each armored man.

"…Am I wrong?" She prompted, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at the leader of the Woodsmen.

While the men exchanged looks behind him, Lucas kept his eyes firmly locked onto Velvet's with his hands on his hips. After a pause, his expression lightened, and he finally opened his mouth to speak.

"Why… of course you're wrong." Lucas grinned wolfishly as he drawled, "Naturally, if it came out that the ferocious, greedy, and bloodthirsty mercenaries known as the Woodsmen were in reality a bunch of soft-hearted sissies, we'd be run right out of business within the week." He shrugged at length, glancing over his shoulder at the others. "And we wouldn't want that, would we, boys?"

Roars of denial were his collective response.

His grin widening, Lucas turned back around and gave Velvet a helpless shrug. "I guess that settles that." He supposed.

His eyebrows narrowed thoughtfully.

"…Still." He hummed. "If the Shepherd has such a keen-eyed lady like you travelling by his side… then I guess that means that he can't be all that bad."

Evidently making up his mind, Lucas nodded to himself and let his hands drop from his hips, meeting Velvet's eyes. "If you or he ever need our services again, don't hesitate to search us out." he offered openly with a grin.

"We Woodsmen value our customers. Never forget that." He gave the woman another nod. "And thanks in advance for passing along the message to the Shepherd. Let him know that both the south-southwest corner and northeastern section of the wall have pretty nasty breaches that ought to be fixed. That's all."

And with that, he turned on his heel and faced the men behind him. "Alright, bums. We're done here. Get!"

With that, the group of mercenaries turned and headed out of the park, their armor and weapons clanking loudly with each step they took. Soon, Lucas and his crew were out of sight as they left the area, their minds already focused on their future prospects. Velvet watched them leave with a thoughtful expression.

She glanced over at the sound of footsteps to find Edna walking up next to her, also watching the Woodsmen leave from under the shadow of her opened umbrella.

"…A thousand years of nothing but hardships and misery in this world." Velvet commented arbitrarily. "I suppose that doesn't stop a handful of people from still trying to use everything in their power to do something different for a change."

"Like I said. Humans are stupid." Edna replied dryly.

Velvet huffed in response, tearing her eyes away from the mercenaries and towards the setting sun. "Come on." She prompted. "Let's pass the message on. Sorey will want to hear it."

Together, the therion and the seraph trotted down the hill in the opposite direction that the mercenaries had went, headed through the bustling city brightened by the golden streaks of the swiftly approaching sunset.

---​

The heavens were painted a dark, bloody orange hue by the time the two of them finally made it to the inn as the sun slowly dipped down into the distant, grassy horizon beyond the tall city walls. Steel and leather boots tromped noisily on the plank stairs leading up to the deck of the inn as Velvet and Edna trudged up them, leaving the dirt and gravel roads behind.

The Shepherd stood beside the railing alongside Lailah, a deeply troubled expression on his face. He turned around as the other two arrived in his presence, quietly sliding the weathered green tome in his hands shut as he did so. The long shadows drawn by the setting sun cast by his coarse hair framed his hard eyes as he greeted his fellow companions with a soft nod.

"Hey guys." He greeted lightly, putting his free hand on his hip. "We've decided to try out the inn's cooking this time instead of our own, if that's okay?"

Velvet didn't mince words. "What's wrong?" She asked sharply, raising an inquisitive eyebrow at his abnormal demeanor.

"Nothing's wrong." Sorey hurriedly reassured, shaking his head with a calming grin that was somehow genuine yet forced. "I just came across something kinda off-putting, that's all."

"…And that something was?" Edna prompted, twirling her umbrella slowly in the air.

Behind him, Lailah threaded her hands in front of her dress, her expression distant and unreadable. Hefting the green book in his arm as he idly shifted on his feet, Sorey glanced at both Velvet and Edna before opening his mouth.

"Well, I was wondering."

"Have either of you two heard of the name… Velvet Crowe?"

The chattering of two particularly noisy housewives doing the laundry in the distance filled the silence that followed. High up above them all, the Great Tree of Marlind began to sway ever so gently with arrival of a cool evening breeze. Velvet's hair and clothing rippled with the wind as she exchanged an unreadable glance with Edna in the wake of Sorey's question.

Ever so discreetly, the therion's eyes narrowed with anger and quickly flitted to the side towards Lailah. Lailah met the hellion's glaring eyes and subtly shook her head. This wasn't her doing.

Abruptly, Edna broke the silence with a bored voice. "Was that supposed to mean anything to me?" She asked dryly, twirling her umbrella once more.

Sorey's eyes furrowed.

He let out a sigh of disappointment, the tension leaving his body as he maneuvered his body to lean onto the railing standing behind him. "So, you didn't know about her either, huh?" He surmised. The Shepherd idly glanced up at the leaves high in the sky. "Lailah's also never heard anything about her before." He explained. "I was hoping that either of you two seraphim would've known more about her."

Slowly reigning in the emotions swirling around in her head, Velvet found the presence of mind to speak up. "…Well, who is she, then?" She prompted neutrally.

Sorey blinked and looked back down at Velvet Davidson with an apologetic smile. "Oh, Velvet I didn't mean you, of course." He added. "I'm talking about a different Velvet who lived a long time ago."

His eyes narrowed, an uncharacteristic hardened edge to his expression. "That is, the woman who was called Velvet Crowe, the Lord of Calamity that brought about the end of the Age of Asgard once and for all."

He gently maneuvered the weathered green book in his hands, carefully flipping it open once more. "It turns out that this book I bought from the Sparrowfeathers was actually written by a very, very old seraph a long time ago." Sorey explained. "It's written in the ancient tongue, so I doubt anybody who ever came across it ever recognized its true worth."

He turned the green book around to display the weathered, barely legible cursive writing on its pages detailing the accounts of events that had long, long since passed. Smudged ink drawings of foreign continents and places were nested comfortably within long flowing streams of text that populated the tome.

It was truly an invaluable relic that told of a time long since passed.

"Sorey's been looking through that book all day." The planks making up the deck groaned as Lailah quietly made her way over to Sorey's side. "He's been quite obsessed with detailing every last tidbit of information in his own notes." The fire seraph's smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Well of course I have!" Sorey exclaimed. "I'd be deeply ashamed of myself as an explorer if I didn't immediately see the value in doing so." He stroked the cover of the tome almost reverently. "The things in this book…" He shook his head.

"While a good portion of the pages have become unreadable over the years and a whole lot of it just plain doesn't make any sense, the rest is still legible and are undeniable, concrete pieces of information thoroughly documenting a period of history that, until now, has been considered almost completely lost!"

"And?" Edna interjected. "What have you learned?"

And just like that, the excitement seemed to fade from the Shepherd's expression, replaced by what could only be described as a somber sort of reverence. "…Well, it's like I said. I now know the story of the Lord of Calamity and her exploits, one thousand years ago."

He looked away, his jaw set. "I now know of the horrible things a Lord of Calamity is capable of."

In the far horizon, the sun had finally set. A squad of town workers had begun travelling up and down major thoroughfares, igniting the various steel lamps set up around town. One by one, the lamps dotted around town blinked into existence, illuminating the streets with their paltry yet sufficient light.

"Lailah." Sorey glanced over his shoulder at her in the growing darkness. "I'm slowly starting to truly understand what you meant back then. About what you said back in Ladylake."

He idly tugged at his Shepherd's glove as he thought back to that day over a month ago when he was just starting out on his journey. 'The being who gives rise to the hellions.'" he quoted softly. "'A Lord of Calamity, who begets hellions with the overwhelming amount of malevolence…'" He glanced at the book in his hands pensively. "'…he or she possesses.'" he finished quietly.

He abruptly glanced up at Velvet, a fierce determination etched in his features. "Velvet. About what you said yesterday. I wanted to thank you for what you said to me." He shook his head. "And not only that, but everything you've been teaching me. All this guidance and wisdom that you've been sharing… I'm really, truly grateful for all of it." The Shepherd put a fist to his chest in affirmation of his beliefs, giving her a nod of thanks. "Because the more I learn, and the stronger I grow…"

His fist rose from his chest to reach out towards the sky and beyond. "…The better chance I'll have against such terrible beings." He breathed. "I need to grow much stronger than I am now to that end. For the sake of both my dream… as well as for the sake of the dreams of the people who share the world with me."

His fist tightened in staunch determination.

The two present seraphim exchanged glances in the wake of the Shepherd's words. Hesitantly, Lailah opened her mouth to try and say something.

She was interrupted.

"It's important that you understand the type of evil you're up against." Velvet's words were calm and logical. "That book's a good find. She shifted on her feet, putting a hand on her hip and looking away, her eyes distant. An abrupt, volatile urge struck her. "But tell me, Sorey…"

"…why is it you think that birds fly?" Her soft question resounded through the silence.

The Shepherd blinked in surprise at the outlandish question.

Before he even had a chance to answer though, she turned swiftly on her heel and walked away, the chains on her outfit clinking gently yet loudly in the silence. Velvet waved her hand over her shoulder as she left. "If you ever find your answer to that question during your travels, come and tell me."

With that, the woman stepped down the stairs and made her way back into town, leaving the rest of the group watching her vanish into the darkened night, her black coat shrouding her lone figure companionably as she did so.

Why… do they fly? Behold my answer… Velvet.

Those words that had meant so much to her. Words that her entire life had once revolved upon.

Velvet's eyes were hard and unreadable as she walked on, deeper into the darkness.

Sorey watched as his companion left, a thoughtful expression on his face as he contemplated her parting words as well as what unknown meaning could be hidden within them.

He carefully closed the weathered tome in his hands and tucked it away in his pack, reminding himself to continue translating as much as he could in what free time he would have the future. There was still much to be learned from the history of the world.

From the sins committed long ago.

---​

CLANG!

The next strike rattled Sorey's teeth as the hellion's claw crashed down upon his horizontal guard. His knees buckled and his boots dug deeper into the dirt as the cloaked hellion before him pushed down even harder, its hellish claw pushing down brutally upon his sword.

His dirty face gleaming with sweat, Sorey quickly considered all the possible options he had in order to save himself from the current deadlock.

He locked his gaze upon the emotionless red eyes of his opponent staring right back at him as he strained against its terrible might. His sword buckled as the monster added even more pressure upon his guard. He grunted, struggling to keep his body upright, glancing briefly at his sword held horizontally above his head. Mental images from previous battles with the hellion flashed before his eyes.

He was determined to not repeat his past mistakes. He met the eyes of the hellion once more, locking on to its blood red eyes in clear defiance as the huge claw above his head pushed down even harder. He would not fall here.

Suddenly, the crushing weight pressing down upon his sword vanished.

Sorey blinked in shock, stumbling forward as the planned maneuver in his head became entangled with the unexpected turn of events. Regaining his balance and finding his feet once more, his head shot up towards the masked hellion, his entire body thrumming with adrenaline as fear of a counterattack ran rampant in his head.

But it wasn't even looking at him.

It turned away from him, instead facing outwards into the darkness with its malevolence-wreathed claw held at a low ready. A cold breeze blew, cooling the skin on Sorey's neck and disturbing the hellion's bunched-up and – he could only imagine – disfigured cloaked frame.

A sea of treetops spread out for miles around in the dark of night. Scorched patches of grass patterned the field here and there, evidence of their previous training sessions in the past. The two of them stood upon what had now become familiar training grounds to Sorey within the vicinity of Marlind; an open field with a sharp cliff edge on one side and open forest on the other. High up above, the stars watched as Sorey took an urgent step closer to the motionless hellion ignoring him completely.

"…What's wrong?" He asked softly.

He was met with a glance over the masked hellion's shoulder. The single red eye angled towards him narrowed sharply, conveying an obvious message.

Be quiet.

The hellion then turned back away from the Shepherd and returned its attention to the dark forest in front of them; it's entire body tense as a drawn bowstring. At its side, the pulsating serrated claw, flexed ever so slightly in anticipation.

Sorey immediately readjusted his grip on his sword and moved behind the monster's right side opposite its claw, his entire body tensing. He'd been around this hellion long enough to immediately recognize what that stance meant. It was getting ready to pounce.

Dead silence followed. Still exhausted and spent from the exertion the night's training session had forced out of him, the sound of Sorey's suppressed yet labored breathing filled the air. Another cool nighttime breeze blew through, rustling the leaves of the vast sea of trees before them. From his perspective, there was absolutely nothing to be concerned about; they were alone. But he would not doubt the masked hellion.

A chorus of wild howls shattered the silence of the night.

Werewolf howls; primal cries of pure bloodlust and madness. Suddenly, a pack of rabid hellions charged out from the depths of the darkness born from the trees before them, and pounced upon their newly discovered prey.

"Damn!" Sorey swore, instinctively taking a step back as dozens upon dozens of rabid werewolf hellions charged him all at once. He glanced over his shoulder furtively. The vast gulfing cliffside awaited him. There was no escaping this battle. His only options were to fight or die.

At his side, the masked hellion exploded into action, its legs slamming hard into the ground in a fury of motion as it met the horde of charging hellions head on. Its claw slashed in the air long before its enemies were even in range, generating huge fireballs that whisked through the air to and detonate amongst the horde. Yelps of agony ripped through the night mixing with the other howls. When the closest werewolf hellion came into range, it was ripped out of existence in the blink of an eye with a feral swipe of the monster's claw.

Eaten alive in an instant.

Shaking his head harshly, Sorey snapped himself out of his awe and dug his boots into the grass, throwing himself into the fray. He would be damned if he were to leave this hellion alone to fend for itself.

SHINK!

He roared and channeled Lailah's power through his body, forcing the power of purification upon the body of the hellion he'd just stabbed. Jerking his sword out from the inferno of silver flames, he whirled around and slashed at the next werewolf to charge at him from behind, sending blood in crescent spray into the night.

At his side, the masked hellion remained close and fended off the rest of the monsters as they mindlessly charged towards the two of them. Its claw swung and slashed with almost mesmerizingly terrible grace, drawing trails of blood as it ripped and shredded through the horde of werewolves… like they were all made of paper.

Killing with each slash.

Sorey glanced briefly of his shoulder, his heart aching at the bloody murders taking place right before his eyes.

"You can't pretend to be capable of saving the world…"

Velvet's words once more ringing in his ears, Sorey gritted his teeth and turned away from the screams and howls of the dying hellions, instead focusing on what he could do; purifying the ones within his sword's reach.

He cried out fiercely, furiously, his eyes reflecting the vast swathes of flame drawn by his sword with each swing.

Power that he just didn't have enough of.

Every life the masked hellion took was a life he had failed to save… because he simply wasn't strong enough.

He couldn't've saved himself had he been alone. He needed the murderous aid of his mysterious hellion ally to keep himself alive. Furthermore… he was the Shepherd. The world couldn't afford to let him die here. So instead, they had to die by means of the hellion's claw. He could do nothing else about it but keep saving those he could. And so he did.

Life quickly devolved into nothing more than a simple, brutal struggle for survival as the rest of the hellions continued to charge. For most of them, it was to their deaths.

Hack.

Slash.

Stab.

Purify, purify, purify.

The Shepherd rolled to the side to avoid another monster's slash before retaliating with a sword straight through its gut, the flames of purification flaring up once more and illuminating the world with a flash of silver.

Just as soon as that hellion had been purified three more took its place, causing him to stumble backwards and give ground to avoid their attacks. Spinning around, Sorey cleanly sliced diagonally across another werewolf's breast, eliciting a furious roar of anger and pain from it. Blood that was not his own splattered across his clothing as the silver flames purified another monster.

He had to live. He just had to.

Absently, he noted that the clawed hellion whom was his ally was using its superior strength and abilities to stay close to him throughout the fray. For every hellion that he managed to purify, three suffered horrific deaths at the end of its vicious, merciless claw. That claw that had the ability to consume what it held. That same claw that he had sparred with for so many nights.

In the end, it was no surprise that it had been holding back on him for his own benefit. Yet it was still immensely jarring to see the hellion be true to its nature and unleash what he hopedwas the full extent of its might. A natural killer, pure and simple.

And to think that he still had no clue as to what it wanted from him!

Sorey was forced to dive desperately to the side as two hellions slashed at him at the same time. He landed hard on his back on the grass, his sword tightly gripped in his right hand yet useless with such a compromised posture. As the two attackers adjusted their velocity to pounce onto him, he brought his sword up as a last-ditch effort to ward them off.

CRASH!

Yelps and howls of agony filled the air as the two pouncing hellions were bashed effortlessly away by the massive claw that had swept right over Sorey's body, saving him. Specks of blood flew off the bloodied claw, a few droplets landing on the Shepherd's face and making him wince.

The blood was warmer than he'd expected.

Adrenaline pumping desperately through his veins, he forced himself to roll to his feet. Without hesitating, he swiftly slashed away at another enemy trying to attack his hellion ally from behind. From there, almost instinctively, he and the hellion began to coordinate their efforts to fend the creatures off even as they fully encircled their position.

BANG!

The world erupted in bright light as the hellion cast a fully charged ball of fire mana into the distance, engulfing a trio of werewolves in flames and singing several others. Squinting through the sudden and unbearable flare of brightness, Sorey roared as he leapt forward, slashing at two similarly blinded monsters to drive them away.

He grunted as he landed awkwardly on the grass, stumbling for just a split-second.

That brief period of vulnerability was just enough time for a lucky hellion to charge right at him and get inside his guard. Sorey's eyes widened and he instinctually leapt backwards to avoid the razor-sharp claws sweeping inches away from his exposed neck.

He raised his sword to prepare his counter-attack the instant he recovered.

Yet his feet found only thin air.

Everything slowed to a halt. He watched it all in slow motion as he fell off the edge of the cliff, his ceremonial cloak flapping uselessly behind him and his sword still clenched habitually tightly in his right hand.

Above, the brilliant canvas of stars shining high in the night sky. Below, a vast drop with nothing but forest to meet him and his body as he eventually fell back towards the earth. Upon the edge of the cliff stood the werewolf hellion that would be ultimately responsible for his imminent death. Its rabid eyes were narrowed in fury as it snarled uselessly, its prey having escaped it in a final act of defiance.

And behind it, Sorey watched as the familiar masked hellion he had considered an ally turned and saw him falling. He saw its inhuman eyes widen in utterly uncharacteristic emotion as its entire body pivoted on the spot towards him.

He heard a faint, distorted, warped cry of horror.

"SOREY…!"

That was the last thing he heard before he fell down headfirst into the darkness to his death.

---​

CRASH!

Sorey's eyes shot open. The first thing he registered was the roaring wind mixing violently with the deafening screech of a something huge digging deep into the cliffside. His stomach lurched and his whole body jerked as his momentum was partially arrested as something seized his. He twisted his head up and his eyes widened in shock.

The masked hellion gripped onto his belt with its right hand while its other inhumanly large appendage tore into the side of the cliff with overwhelming force, gouging out swathes of dirt and rock in its wake while at the same time managing to find enough traction to slow the two of them down in their fall.

Sorey's eyes shot to the dark ground below. He let out an instinctual yelp of terror as he registered the trees shooting up towards the two of them as they neared the bottom of the cliff. Up above him, the hellion's claw dug even deeper into the cliff side with something akin to desperation.

And then they landed.

CRASH!

…

His entire body ached.

That was the first thought that came to his mind as he came to, the nausea and distortion buzzing around in his head ebbing and flowing with the spots that had appeared in his vision. He blinked hard and coughed, groaning in agony as he felt his body first. He eventually let out a breath of pure adrenaline-driven relief as he slowly realized that he hadn't broken anything.

But what about the hellion?

Worry spiked sharply in Sorey's heart. With a massive effort, the Shepherd forced himself to sit up, wincing as the world around him shifted in an alarming manner. He shook himself slightly and forced his eyes to focus.

Dust hung in the air in the aftermath of the rock that had been gouged out of the side of the cliff face. The stars could be seen peeking through the heavy canopy of the tall trees surrounding his position. He had evidently tumbled for quite a while downhill, judging by the pattern of the disturbed grass at his side.

Out of pure chance, he managed to spot the masked hellion leaning painfully against one of the trees in the distant darkness, its entire body slouched heavily against the trunk.

His eyes widened as he took in the state of the hellion's human-like arm. It was clearly dislocated, if not outright broken. It was clearly a miracle that the arm was still attached to its body to begin with. Worried beyond belief, Sorey found his voice.

"H-hey!" He coughed out, reaching out with his hand.

The moment his voice rang out, the hellion's entire body stiffened. Without a second glance back, nor any thought or consideration given to its injury, the hellion slammed its claw into the floor and used it to propel itself far into the darkness, vanishing without a trace.

Sorey stared blankly at where it had disappeared, his eyes wide in utter astonishment and confusion. He let his arm fall down limply by his side, idly registering that his sleeve was still caked in congealed hellion blood.

In the wake of flagrant chaos, only the sound of chirping crickets and waving trees remained to keep the lone Shepherd company. Meanwhile, high up above, the hovering stars continued on as they always had been since the very beginning.

Silent.

Watching.

Remembering.

End of Part 2 – Closer.

---​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 11 - Steel.

He couldn't sleep. Counting the number of individual planks of wood in the darkened ceiling wasn't helping, nor was the constant readjusting of his pillow. It apparently didn't matter the fact that his entire body was still sore and exhausted from the battle earlier in the night, nor that he'd finished applying gels and bandages to his various injuries a few hours ago.

He was simply too preoccupied by what had happened.

With a grunt, Sorey sat up in his bed, ruefully rubbing his tired eyes. The muffled sound of crickets chirping outside the inn of Marlind continued to ring in the silence as he made his way out the door, shutting it quietly behind him. He lingered for a second in the darkened hallway, his eyes drifting slowly towards the doors of the others' rooms.

Then the moment passed. Shaking his head to himself, Sorey turned his body away and instead headed outside, braving the aging night. It felt like he had wandered for an eternity through the desolate streets of town with nothing but the crickets for company before he inadvertently found himself entering the park at the heart of Marlind. All alone, the Shepherd maintained his thoughtful pace as he trotted through the empty grass fields, idly appreciating the brilliance of the naturally formed patterns embellishing the vibrant bark of the Great Tree before him.

He spent some more time there, sitting on one of the thicker roots of the massive tree a little way up from the ground and letting his mind catch up with itself in silence.

"That tree's pretty old, you know."

Edna didn't spare him a glance as she approached, training her eyes high up towards the towering tree valiantly enshrouding the town. Her pale translucent umbrella seemed to glow ethereally in the moonlight as she twirled it on her shoulder.

"Edna!" Sorey blinked. "What are you doing up this early?" He asked as she came to a halt below his perch.

She raised an eyebrow up at him. "Don't ask questions that you won't answer in turn." She reprimanded.

Sorey winced. "...I-I guess that's fair." He conceded meekly.

The earth seraph let out a soft hmph in response, disapproval clear on her face.

Looking to divert the topic anywhere else, the Shepherd glanced up towards the darkened sky. "The Celestial Record says that the Great Tree of Marlind is a few thousand years old, at least." He recited by heart, squinting through the darkness to make out the vague outline of the expansive canopy above.

"That's like, stupid vague." Edna pointed out disdainfully, delicately placing her oversized boots upon the bark of the tree as she climbed up to where Sorey was. "Can't that all-knowing book of yours give a definitive answer for once?"

The Shepherd shook his head. "Well, there's only so much information that scattered old legends and spotty ancient records can provide, especially given just how vast the span of time it's trying to account for." he reasoned. "Figuring out history is like a puzzle, where you're only given a few pieces of a thousand and told to somehow replicate the entire image. Some things just aren't possible to find definitive answers for." His eyes seemed to gleam with familiar passion as he spoke.

Edna knelt down easily behind Sorey on the root, hugging her knees with an idle huff. "So, the only thing that really knows the full truth behind the tree's story is the tree itself, then." She commented. "Nobody else."

"I guess you could say that, yeah." Sorey nodded, appreciating the interpretation. He ran his gloved fingers over the glossy skin of the root he sat upon. "Still, imagine all of the things we could learn if the tree could talk to us!" He exclaimed. "Entire lost chapters of history – recovered in an instant!"

"You sure you would even want that?" Edna asked, smirking. "You might discover that the world really isn't as simple as you think it is."

"All the better." Sorey returned determinedly, leaning back on his hands and staring up into the sky. "Wisdom doesn't come easily, as they say. This tree might be regarded as a beacon unto the fruit of knowledge, but that doesn't mean that harvesting it should be as easy as plucking fruit from a tree."

"Spoken like a true Sorey." She remarked dryly. "Your optimism never fails to astound."

Sorey chuckled good-naturedly in response, grinning at the seraph. "I guess that's just who I am."

"For now." Edna added shortly, kicking her feet out and letting them dangle over the curvature of the roots. "On the other hand… I wonder who you'll be at the end of all of this?"

A thoughtful silence followed in the wake of her words.

All around them, the world was steadily brightening as a new dawn fast approached, signaling the end of an eventful night. In the distance, the occupants of the houses bordering the edge of the park began to stir, waking up for another day of work. In the distance, an early-rising dog began to bark.

Sorey winced as one of the bandaged wounds under his clothes stung him in protest as he shifted in his seat. He gingerly and discreetly laid back in a fashion that allowed him the least possible discomfort given his injuries while still keeping them hidden from Edna. With the renewed pain of his injuries stinging his body, his mind inevitably returned to dwelling upon the events from earlier in the night.

About the masked hellion.

He had never been able to make heads nor tails of that clawed hellion since the day they had first met. And all of that mystery had deepened even more over the past night.

"SOREY…!"

Once more he heard his name, yelled in anxiety and concern through the warped and distorted voice of a hellion that had wanted to train him in the ways of battle. It was capable of speech. And it had the capacity to care about someone else's well-being. It cared about him.

He ran a hand through his hair in befuddlement.

Ultimately, he just couldn't fathom why. Why was it doing this? Why did it care about him? Why had it protected him, even going so far as to injure itself to save him? For that matter, how could a hellion even be so… different? The gaping lack of motives and unknown goals of his enigmatic acquaintance elicited so much mystery and confusion in him that it made his head hurt.

"…Edna?" He asked abruptly. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did, doofus." Edna raised an eyebrow at him. "Stop stalling and ask already." She snipped.

"Right." Sorey smiled softly at the sharp Edna-like retort before letting the smile fade.

"When we met you back at Rayfalke," he began, dully noting the tensing of the Seraph's back at his words, "you mentioned that your bother no longer recognized you." He turned to face Edna fully, cross-crossing his legs underneath him.

"Does that mean that he recognized you before? Even as a dragon?" He asked urgently.

After a pregnant pause, she responded. "…Yeah. My brother did recognize me, even as a dragon." she confirmed softly. "Barely."

"So then, did you ever…" Sorey fumbled for words, "…interact with him? Talk with him, even? Back then?"

She gave him a look.

"Why do you ask? Curious as to whether or not you can reason him down from gobbling you up in one bite?" She scoffed disdainfully, kicking her dangling legs in the air. "If so, I'd say you're even more optimistic that I first thought. Not to mention stupid."

Sorey shook his head. "N-no, it's not that." He refuted soberly. "I'm fully aware as to the state Eizen is in right now. I saw more than enough proof of that back at the mountain." He shifted in his seat. "I was just wondering about… hellions in general, I guess." He admitted haltingly.

A stray breeze blew, disturbing Edna's hair as she looked away. "…Is that so." She muttered.

A pause.

"Eizen never spoke." She began.

"I was certain he wasn't physically able to… But I'm also sure he wouldn't have even if he could." Edna absently fiddled with her boots; her eyes distant. "But he did listen."

Sorey blinked.

She pushed a stay strand of golden hair out of her eyes as she elaborated, "It wasn't much, but I could tell it was my brother underneath it all." She sighed, shaking her head. "I watched over him as best I could. If any idiot humans strayed close enough to the mountain, I would try my best to force my brother to stay put until they left." She shrugged softly. "And he actually did… once in a while. Things like that."

"…So," Sorey rubbed his chin in deep thought, "that means that seraphim have the ability to retain shreds of their personality even after turning into a dragon?"

Edna sighed, repetitively squeezing the normin doll attached to her umbrella as she engulfed herself in memories.

"Some days were worse than others." She continued softly. "Some days he'd barely be able to hold himself back from ripping me into ribbons. Others he'd be docile enough that I could go and sit right next to his head and talk with him." She paused and corrected herself, "Well, talk at him, I mean."

Sorey's eyes were soft.

"What did you talk about?" He asked gently.

Edna looked away, staring at the grass below. "…Old memories, for the most part. Things that I hoped would trigger something in his awareness."

She sighed. "Oh, but how I hoped some random thing would work." She muttered sourly. "Some stupid memory of him cooking things for me or of us playing silly games when we lived together. I tried talking about as many things as I could remember. Anything that might've somehow… brought my brother back." Her voice trembled briefly.

"Edna…"

She harshly shook her head, discreetly wiping her eyes with her arm before turning back to him, her blasé expression once more firmly plastered onto her face. "…Obviously, it didn't work. You saw how he was. He completely lost all traces of who he was by the time you showed up." She sighed. "It was a lost cause in the first place."

Sorey nodded slowly in response.

"…Nevertheless," he noted, "it's truly amazing that a hellion could even have that much awareness leftover from when he was a seraph to begin with." He shook his head. "From what I've understood about hellions, I'd have thought that once someone turns into a hellion, that person would then become a complete and total monster without a shred of awareness whatsoever." He shifted in his seat. "At least, that's what Mikleo and the others told me..." He trailed off.

Edna gave him a calculating look in the wake of his statement.

"So." She cocked her head at him. "What's the reason behind this sudden interest in hellions?"

Sorey flinched.

"A-ah! No reason, really." He grinned nervously. "Just… trying to understand what I'm up against, that's all." He scratched his cheek. "A-also, I remember reading a book back in Elysia that the best thing a person can do to prepare for battle is by reading up on one's enemy." He nodded hastily. "That's all I'm doing."

"…Hmph." She slowly got to her feet, dusting the stray leaves off her dress.

"It's going to be a long journey for you." Her umbrella squealed slightly as she opened it once more and laid it on her shoulder with a twirl. "You've got a lot to learn."

Sorey blinked a few times at the statement.

He eventually found his voice, a soft smile forming on his lips. "…I'm sure I do." He breathed to himself as he turned away from her. The two stayed like that for a while, watching as the sun slowly began to creep up above the distant horizon. A lone Shepherd and one of his seraphim, poised upon the fringes of uncertainty.

Somewhere in the distance, a bell began to toll.

Sorey exchanged a glance with Edna, warily getting to his feet as the faint sound grew steadily more frantic, its ringing echoing throughout the waking town.

"What's that?" He asked guardedly, his eyes scanning the town for any signs of discord.

Edna shrugged. "Sounds like more trouble." She observed in resignation.

"Then we should get going." Squaring his tired shoulders and steadying his wandering mind once more, Shepherd Sorey placed his hand on the pommel of his sword and began to climb down the root. Edna close behind, mimicking his footsteps.

---​

Velvet huffed, plunging her human arm into the small creek and retracting it quickly, splashing the cupped water onto her dirty face and neck, uncaring of how freezing cold the water was. She repeated the motion, thoroughly scrubbing any trace of the hazardous mishap she'd committed earlier in the night off her face. Droplets of fouled, dirtied water trailed down and dripped off her chin as she worked, glinting in the moonlight.

Satisfied that she'd cleaned enough of the dirt off judging by her reflection off the surface of the creek, she hunched backwards and closed her eyes, exhaling slowly. The sound of the flowing of the tiny creek she was kneeling beside meshed with the crying of crickets and the rustling of the leaves of nearby trees in the wind. In the distance, the city of Marlind stood, solemnly in the dead of night.

Suddenly, the therion drew her arm back and slammed her fist into the dirt, sending loose rocks and pebbles flying. She seized upon the sensation of pain in her knuckles due to the strike and let the feeling ground her chaotic brain as much as possible. "Damn!" She snarled.

"Whoa! Easy there, moody."

Velvet sighed, turning to face Zaveid's stupid grinning face as he trotted over to her from the tree line, his bare chest gleaming in the fading moonlight.

"…What do you want, Zaveid?" She growled back, her voice at a dangerously low level. Yet despite herself, she found her muscles untensing for the first time since the battle in his presence.

Zaveid coyly sauntered over to the kneeling woman with his hands on his hips. "Now now," he berated patiently, "is that any for the Lord of Calamity to greet her loyal minion?"

Velvet flicked dirt off her hand and used it to sweep a few stray strands of raven hair behind her ear in annoyance. "I can't think of a single reason why any evil being would want to have you as a servant."

"Nonsense!" Zaveid returned, coming to a halt beside her by the water's edge. "Such a gorgeous, vicious monster such as yourself just has to have a fittingly attractive co-conspirator in her ranks. Everyone knows hot babes need hot hunks by their side."

He put two hands on his hips. "So then, won't you choose me to be your husband, your calamityness?" He drawled mischievously.

She gave him a glare that promised death in return.

"…I'll show you the real meaning of vicious if you don't shut up right now." She growled warningly.

Grinning easily, Zaveid plopped down on the grass besides her with another easy reply ready. "But of course." he allowed graciously. "Your wish is my command."

Velvet couldn't help but roll her eyes in response. "No wonder you get under Lailah's skin so easily." she observed under her breath.

Shaking her head, the therion turned away and began scrubbing stray specks of hellion blood that had managed to find their way past her disguise and onto her clothing in the battle. She eventually gave up and ripped her whole ragged coat off, dunking it entirely into the cold water and squeezing it harshly to rinse the blood away.

Zaveid watched her with a keen eye, idly toying with the long flowing straps of leather hanging from his wrists as she worked. The splashing of the water filled the silence as the blood seeped out of the hellion's clothing, corrupting the pure liquid with plumes of deep, dark red.

"So, what's up?" He asked after a little while. "Shepherd finally driven you mad?" He guessed. "Too much naïve do-gooder attitude for even you to handle?"

Velvet sighed, halting in her work.

She stared down at the soaking wet black coat bunched up in her hands for a moment as she contemplated his question. "It's not that." She muttered, slowly resuming her work with distant eyes.

"Then what?" Zaveid pressed the issue, sitting up from his slouched position and thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "Far as I know," he pointed out, "beating innocent dirt into a pulp like that isn't usually an indicator of everything bein' fine and dandy."

She pulled the jacket out of the water, twisting it and squeezing it as dry as possible with a grim expression. The last few droplets of clean water splattered noisily into the chuckling stream in the silence.

"I suppose you could say that I've been getting a little too… involved." She muttered reluctantly, her mind flashing back to that unfortunate slip earlier in the night. "I've come insufferably close to breaking my cover more than once these past few days. It's damned annoying."

Her fists clenched over the bunched-up fabric in her hands. "…I just need to distance myself more from my work." She concluded lowly. "That's all."

A wry, knowing grin slowly spread across Zaveid's face at her words.

"Ah…" He exhaled at length. "…I see."

He abruptly slid to his feet; his hands intertwined behind his neck as he trotted about around her. "Ya know," he began, "I used to think that Eizen's creed was just about the dumbest thing I'd ever heard." He remarked, his boots clinking on the grass.

Velvet raised an eyebrow at the abrupt shift in topic.

"Living just to live," Zaveid continued at length, "on his own terms regardless of everything else…" He scoffed, waving a hand in the air. "What about all the lives that he was ruining byliving on his own terms? It just didn't make any kind of sense. How selfish could one person get?"

He hooked his thumbs on his belt, facing away and staring out at the city of Marlind in the distance. "…At least that's what I thought at the time." His long mane of silver hair rippled softly in the night breeze. After a pause, he prompted, "You remember, what it was like between the two of us?"

"I do." She agreed neutrally, watching him carefully. "It was… irritating to say the least. Like having two giant boulders be repeatedly smashed against each other."

He glanced over his shoulder at her. "But look at me now." he grinned.

"…Your point?"

He quickly spun around on his heel to face her, waving a hand in the air. "All I'm sayin', sweetheart, is that the same thing might happen to you." He gave her a careless grin. "If I were you, I'd be careful about Sorey's little naïve do-gooder attitude rubbin' off on you." he suggested casually. "That's all."

"But that's just the opinion of one humble rock-brained dumbass… naturally." he demurred.

She glanced away in the wake of his words, an unreadable expression on her face.

The sky around the two continued to brighten in the silence that followed. In the distance, signs of life could be seen in the town of Marlind as the population slowly began to stir. The last of the present crickets began to let their songs fade, giving way to the entrance of a new day.

"…By the way," Zaveid broke the silence once more, spinning on his feet and facing her with a hand on his hip, "Leo sends his regards."

Velvet blinked twice. "You found him?"

"Yeah." Zaveid confirmed, jerking a thumb over his shoulder as she got to her feet. "I ran into him and his mutt by chance in Pendrago." He chuckled nostalgically. "Just like the old days."

In answer to her unspoken question, he elaborated, "So don't you go worrying about him, Velvet. He and I had a bit of a chat." he explained. "Turns out after he'd separated from you, the army ended up finding him and bringing him back to Rolance. He's been there ever since and looked pretty cozy over there last I saw of him." He raised both hands in a shrug and shook his head. "When I told him about what you've been up to, he shrugged and said that he'd stay put, and that you ought to do what you have to."

"…Well, that's good to hear." Velvet breathed. "That's one less thing to worry about." She gave him a small, grateful smile. "Thank you for helping find him, Zaveid."

He grinned back. "Bet you're happy to have me as your minion now, huh?" He shrugged, shaking his head. "'Sides, I gave you my word. And if Zaveid the Whirlwind says he'll do something, you damn well better know he'll do it!"

"So it would seem." Velvet huffed in amusement, looking off to the side with a hand on her hip. She let out a long, drawn-out sigh and shook her head in defeat. "…I suppose I have to concede that you do make a rather half-decent minion." She remarked with a light smile.

"Half-decent?!" Zaveid's eyes bulged in horror.

He shook his head, regaining his composure. "Velvet-dear," he drawled, "you are quite the hard sell, ain't ya? Well, all the better, I say."

He put his hands on his belt and thrust his hips forward. "I love girls who play hard to get." He purred suggestively.

Velvet shot him an amused look in return. "Try me. You're free to do whatever you want." She shrugged, waving her bandaged hand in the air. "Although," she added dangerously, "as for what the consequences might be, I make no promises..."

"Well now you got me all proper riled up!" Zaveid beamed. "Looks like I'll just have to make you fall for me, Velvet Crowe, one way or another." He proclaimed, wiggling his eyebrows salaciously.

The woman in question let out a huff of amusement in response, bending down and picking up her drenched black coat. "Yeah. Good luck with that." She flapped the damp fabric harshly a few times before sliding it on to cover her bare arms. "So, what now?" She asked after a moment, raising her eyebrow. "Wherewill you go?"

"Wherever the wind's blowin', Velvet dear." He answered solemnly, his eyes rising up as he turned his body towards the distant brightening horizon. "You know me. Zaveid the Whirlwind never stays in one place." He shrugged. "That's just not who I am."

Steel boots scrunched in the dewy grass behind him as they approached. He glanced over as Velvet came to a halt beside him, her arms crossed as she stared out into the same horizon. "I guess you and I have that much in common." She noted dryly.

A pause. Zaveid's lips drew into a thin line. "…Listen, Velvet."

She turned at his tone of voice. He met her gaze carefully. "We never got to know each other too well back in the day…" he conceded, "but I'd like to think I'm a good people reader, myself." He shifted on his feet.

"So I think you should listen when I'm tellin' you that I'm… a little worried about you these days." He crossed his arms seriously. "More than a little if I'm being completely honest."

She gave him a look, flexing her bandaged hand. "I can handle myself just fine."

"From hellions, seraphim, and humans, yeah, I certainly know better than to doubt you on that; hell, I've got firsthand knowledge in that respect." He waved a hand with a laugh. "I sure as hell wouldn't ever want to be on the business end of that nasty oversized claw of yours. Being eaten alive while squeezed to death? Nah, count me out." He abruptly took a step forward, holding her gaze carefully.

"But thatwasn't what I was talking about."

In the distance, the sun continued to rise, sending long, sweeping shadows across the landscape. The distant city of Marlind was beginning to stir as the early morning birds began to sing their collective songs.

Velvet was silent, her expression hard.

The wind seraph looked away distantly. "Just… try to learn a thing or two from what happened to Eizen, would you?" He fiddled with the leather straps on his wrists. "I'd hate to see another buddy of mine fall victim to their own convictions.

"Just… something to keep in mind. That's all."

She glanced to her side, over towards the creek slowly babbling away in the silence that followed. Her jaw stiffened. "…You're probably not as much of a people reader as you think," she gave him a hard look, "if you failed to recognize that I already lost myself a long, long time ago."

A grotesque, noisy squelch resounded into the crisp, morning air, followed by a condensed burst of malevolence that expelled out from Velvet's left arm. Zaveid instinctively took a couple steps back, holding a protective arm up to shield his face as the putrid malevolence dissipated into the air around the therion. Velvet lifted her extended daemon claw up into the air, blocking the incoming rays of sunlight and casting a cool shadow across her grim expression.

"I'm called the Lord of Calamity for a reason." She pointed out coolly, examining the back of her claw. "I will do what I have to in order to achieve my goals." The wounds inflicted upon her by Sorey and Mikleo in their first encounter had all but vanished from her pulsating skin, she was pleased to see.

She turned and locked onto his gaze with her own fiery eyes. "That has not changed and that will never change." Her words were laden with finality. "That's just not who I am."

Silence rang out following her statement.

A soft sigh rang out from behind her. Zaveid shrugged helplessly, trotting back up to her side. "Alright alright… point made." He conceded benignly. "Calamity to the core. You got it, your evilness." He swept one leg back and bent forward in an exaggerated bow, his long hair falling past his face and sweeping the grass below.

She rolled her eyes. "We're on the same page, then." With another squelch, her claw disappeared once more into the bandages on her left arm.

"Ah… but I do pity ole Shep down there." Zaveid groaned, casually stretching his limber arms in the air with while eyeing the town down the cliff in the distance. "He hasn't the faintest idea as to the crazy stuff going on right underneath his nose, does he? Geez."

Velvet shrugged. "The less he knows, the better." Her eyes hardened as she thought back to the night before.

"It'll be all that much simpler..." She muttered under her breath. Behind her back, Zaveid looked on with a hard expression.

Somewhere in the distance, a bell began to toll.

The two of them exchanged a glance as the tolling coming from Marlind grew more and more frantic.

"Hm. New dawn new day, huh?" Zaveid supposed seriously.

Velvet nodded, glancing down briefly at her body to ensure all the blood from last night had been sufficiently removed. Once she had done that, she gave the seraph standing next to her a grateful look.

"…Thanks for all your help, Zaveid." She dipped her chin in acknowledgement.

Zaveid answered with a grin. "Anything for an old friend." His grin grew feral. "…And a smokin' hot one at that, if I ever do say so!" He gave her a salacious wink and a wave. "Ciao!"

She gave him another nod in return. And then the two beings burst into action, with Velvet leaping straight off the cliff, angling towards Marlind while Zaveid dashed off in the opposite direction with the aid of his artes. The bells continued to toll in the distance, the sound heralding the coming of a new dawn.

The bubbling creek continued to flow calmly in the morning sun.

---​

"The empire…! The Rolance Empire is attacking!"

Sorey grunted as he slid through the crowd amassed before the open gates of Marlind, his seraphim close by. Panicked faces of bystanders flashed before him as he made his way to the front of the crowd, apologizing and wincing all the while.

"No!" A middle-aged woman put her hands up to her horrified face. "My son's at that front line!"

"Damn!" A merchant stomped his foot angrily. "And here I thought the fools would give it a rest."

"Mommy?" A little girl clutching a stuffed teddy bear cranked her neck upwards towards her mother. "Does this mean we won't get to see papa anymore?"

"Hmph!" Another man shook his head furiously. "They never learn their lesson. But our boys'll show 'em, mark my words!"

The agitation and underlying charged energy shimmered through the crowd as Sorey made his way to the forefront. There wasn't a single soul who wasn't affected by the news. Horror, excitement, anticipation, eagerness for battle, fear, hatred; the charged emotions seemed to swirl around, turning the surrounding air itself into an oppressive cauldron, overtaking the brightness of the morning.

And this was just the beginning.

Over all of the clamor, the alarm bells continued to ring, alerting the entirety of town to the encroaching storm.

Sorey finally managed to squeeze past the last of the crowd, arriving at the entranceway at the front of town. He absently registered that Velvet had too arrived, pushing her way through the crowd to arrive nearby at the same time. They exchanged a quick glance of acknowledgement before facing the scene.

Blood gushed out of the soldier's wounds. His armor had been ripped off haphazardly and strewn about the dirt as the resident healers tried their best to save the life of the man leaning awkwardly on the frame of the open gate. The crowd formed a half circle around the dying soldier, murmuring in horror at the scene. Sorey's eyes were wide as he took it all in at the edge of the crowd.

"Hey, you! Get back!"

Instinctively, Sorey wrenched his sword out of its sheath to guard against the spear threatening to prod him backwards. Steel met steel as their weapons collided awkwardly, ringing out noisily despite the clamor of the crowd.

The town guardsman who had initiated contact jerked back in surprise, hastily regaining his footing in preparation for a fight. "Y-you-!" He seethed angrily.

"Jack! Relax!"

All eyes turned to the captain of the guards providing crowd control to protect the injured soldier. The man, whom Sorey recognized from a few nights before, nodded in his direction. "That's the Shepherd you're facing, son. Let him through."

The change in the guard's demeanor was instantaneous.

He near dropped the spear right on the spot, his eyes wide in shock. "A-ah! Shepherd Sorey. M-my deepest apologies." He bowed deeply. "I'm eternally grateful to the work that you've done for all of us." He shook his head helplessly. "Without your help… my grandmother would've… would've…"

After a moment's hesitation, Sorey graced the man with a soft smile and gave him a firm pat on the shoulder, while simultaneously sheathing his sword. "No worries." He promised lightly. "I'm just happy I could help."

And with that, he and Velvet exchanged a nod and walked through the ranks of the guards towards the injured guard. Murmurs from the surrounding spectators rose in volume as the people registered the presence of a legend in their midst.

The savior of Marlind, in the flesh.

A familiar old man kneeled beside the injured soldier alongside the working healers who glanced upon their approach. "Oh, Sorey!" Neif's smile was beyond welcoming. "I heard about all you've done for Marlind. Words cannot express my gratitude for all of your help, dear Shepherd."

Sorey nodded in acknowledgement as he kneeled down as well. "What's going on, Neif?" He asked urgently. "What's this about Rolance?"

Before Neif could answer, a coughing fit drew their attention.

The soldier, nothing more than a young blonde teenager wearing bloodied cotton clothes, hacked out blood onto the dirt next to him before blearily blinking his eyes. "S…Shepherd...?" He moaned, utterly lost.

The healers glanced at him. At their looks, Sorey swallowed and edged forward carefully, kneeling next to the man and carefully resting a hand on his shoulder. "My name is Sorey." He decided to say.

"Shepherd Sorey… I've… heard about you." Another coughing fit. Sorey was alarmed to feel the raggedness of the man's breathing through his hand on his shoulder. "I… The name's Adam. I'm… honored to have met you." He breathed haltingly.

"Hey, take it easy!" Sorey urged, briefly casting a glance over his shoulder and meeting Velvet's narrowed eyes as she stood behind him. "…You're hurt really bad." He pointed out, running his eyes over his hastily bandaged chest and leg.

A burst of green otherworldly light that only Sorey and Velvet could see flashed out, announcing the appearance of Lailah as she knelt down opposite Sorey.

After a moment, Lailah shook her head soberly, her long hair swaying with the action. "It would seem that he took two arrows to the chest and the calf." She threaded her fingers. "I'm… afraid he doesn't have much time left." She whispered. "Not if he keeps on going like this."

Sorey's jaw stiffened.

Adam coughed once more, hacking blood into an offered cloth from one of the medics. He groaned, letting his head fall back to rest against the stone frame behind him. "Shepherd… if you don't mind… please… bring me my horse."

Neif looked aghast. "Young sir! Your wounds…! You cannot possibly expect to reach the capital in your condition-"

"There's no time!" The soldier abruptly yelled out before seizing in agony as his injured muscles cramped. He scrunched his eyes and let out a howl of pain, clenching his fists. At his side, the medics scrambled to help mitigate the trauma as best they could, holding him down as tremors racked his body.

Gasping for breath, Adam's pained eyes once more rose to meet the Shepherd's. "Sorey… please, listen." He gasped. "If I don't get this message to Ladylake in time… We won't get backup. My brothers are out there fighting, at this very instant." He winced as another shiver of agony ran up his spine.

With a massive effort, wrenched his arm from the ground to seize the Shepherd's shoulder in turn, inadvertently staining it with his own blood. "P-please!" He sputtered with wide eyes. "I'm begging you! They'll all die! Slaughtered like animals by those damned dogs of Rolance…!" He choked.

Neif quickly helped guide the teen's body back to lean against the wall as his energy ran out. "Son, I'm telling you." The old man stressed urgently. "If we let you go now, you'll die within the hour." His eyes turned soft. "We've a garrison in town. Let them take it from here. They'll organize and send out a messenger as quickly as possible within a few hours. Rest now. You've done all you ca-"

"No!" The teen howled back. "That won't work! You don't understand!"

He clenched his jaw, looking away with tears forming in his eyes. "The garrison will take too long! And besides, I'm… I'm not a coward! This was my job, and I'm doing it if it's the last thing I do!" His eyes latched onto Sorey's once more. "Shepherd, please!" He begged.

Neif breathed out forcefully from his nose, shaking his head in frustration. "Adam…!"

Another flash of green lit up the world.

Mikleo glanced around briefly before crossing his arms. "…What will you do?" He asked quietly.

Edna joined him in another flash of green, twirling her umbrella idly as she took a cursory glance out the gates. "He's dying, but all he can think of is his fellow soldiers fighting at the front line." She analyzed. "He thinks he'll be remembered as a coward if he doesn't accomplish his final mission." She rolled her eyes, showing off her own feelings regarding such foolishness.

"Such is the dedication and learned duty of a true soldier." Lailah murmured softly. "Such is the basis of the trait of heroism valued so highly by humans…"

The morning smelled of fresh grassy dew and of blood mixed with medicine. Behind them all, the crowd of Marlinders continued to whisper and murmur, coming to terms with the latest turn of life-changing events. Amidst the vortex of whirling emotions and chaos, the Shepherd knelt, quietly considering his options. Velvet watched on quietly with her arms crossed. Her still-wet black coat rippled in the morning breeze. Her eyes were as the wolf's, carefully studying the integrity of the flock.

The Shepherd abruptly looked up; determination etched in his features. He carefully met Adam's hopeful, pained eyes.

"I'm… sorry, Adam." He intoned. "I can't let you throw your life away."

The shock in the soldier's eyes soon turned to anger.

"…S-so, you don't get it either!" He snarled, blood clogging his throat and forcing him into another violent coughing fit. "…I should've expected as much! Damn poser!" Adam growled. "L-Let me do my duty to my brothers, damn it all!" He howled in equal parts rage and anguish.

Sorey's hard expression didn't change. "I'm sorry." he said simply.

He glanced over his shoulder at Lailah expectantly. In turn, the fire seraph slowly nodded in acceptance, agreeing to carry out his unspoken orders. With a sober expression, she lifted her left hand up in a casting figure over Adam's unseeing eyes.

"Spirit Cage." Lailah whispered.

The low-powered seraphic arte seeped into the air, urged by the powerful seraph's will. Flowing mana surrounded the injured soldier, rippling with a rainbow of colors. A low otherworldly hum filled the air, drowning out the protests of the soldier as the effects of the arte settled in.

Adam abruptly crumbled limply against the wall mid-sentence, his eyes rolling back into the back of his head.

A hush fell upon the crowd.

The healers, Neif, the guards, the spectators; all of them had watched how the Shepherd had denied the young man, only for him to fall inexplicably unconscious within seconds of his declaration.

Velvet watched on; her lips pressed in a firm line.

Ignoring the confused hushed whispers of the crowd behind him, Sorey glanced to his side. "Mikleo. Heal his wounds, please." he requested softly.

"Right away." Mikleo nodded, materializing his staff and kneeling besides Sorey, raising his hands over the wound on the man's chest first. "…I think I'll be able to stabilize him enough to save his life." He noted as he worked. "Provided he doesn't push himself too hard…"

Sorey nodded wordlessly in response.

He raised his eyes to meet Neif's wide eyes. "Neif, please have the garrison send out a rider to the capital as soon as possible to notify them of this." He glanced down at Adam's unconscious form. "Tell them to be as fast as they can. The lives of the men on the front lines depend on it."

The old man found his voice. "R-right! I shall!" He cleared this throat harshly, getting to his feet. "I thank you once more, Shepherd." He nodded once more before turning and jogging off, huffing and panting.

"It's done."

Behind them, Mikleo stood up, letting his staff vanish into the air. When they turned to him, he elaborated, "He'll survive, given a few weeks of rest, I think." His brow furrowed. "…But I don't think he'll ever forgive you for what you did to his honor." he grimly pointed out.

Edna shrugged, twirling her umbrella. "Figures how saving someone's life is worse than letting them run off and die of blood loss and exhaustion." She sighed in frustration. "Idiots. A whole pack of idiots."

Standing beside Edna, Velvet quietly ran her eyes over the unconscious body of the youthful soldier, her lips drawn in a thin line.

"Let us be on our way." Lailah suggested softly. "I don't think the healers will work on him with Sorey nearby."

Sorey glanced to the side. Sure enough, the group of healers had taken to giving him a wide berth, nervously glancing between the miraculously healed body of the soldier and the Shepherd with shaky hands. The murmuring of the crowd had not stopped; on the contrary, it seemed to have only increased in volume as the people began to once more recognize that they were witnessing the otherworldly power of the Shepherd.

"…Right." Sorey mumbled. He glanced briefly at Velvet before squaring his shoulders. "Let's go."

The dark red shade of human blood staining his shoulder clashed horribly with the bright, elegant, flowing patterns of his ceremonial Shepherd's cloak. He turned his back onto the crowd and began to walk away, with Velvet and the rest of the seraphim at his back.

The murmuring of the people only increased in the wake of his absence.

---​

"Respectfully, Mister Shepherd, that sorta horse-crap should be thrown where it belongs." Lucas crossed his muscular arms harshly, shaking his head. "The battlefield is where we earn our living. While I appreciate the sentiment, fact of the matter is there ain't nothing more profitable for us Woodsmen than getting ourselves stuck knee-deep in blood and muck."

The sun was high in the sky as Lucas, Sorey, and Velvet walked urgently through the bustling pathways through the tent camp of the Woodsmen outside the walls of Marlind. Men yelled and metal clanged as the mercenaries ran around, preparing themselves for war. Other people dressed in normal clothes trotted about as well; teams of local townsfolk aiding the mercenaries in their work.

"Say," the head mercenary grinned, glancing over his shoulder at Sorey, "if you're so worried about us, then why don't you join us? I'm sure the great Shepherd would be a great boon to the war effort."

Sorey glanced discreetly over his shoulder at Lailah following Lucas's words.

The fire seraph shook her head with a sober expression. "As I said, the camp the Shepherd extends his help to will surely be victorious. Were you to enter the war, there's no telling how warped all of it could become."

Sorey nodded, his expression grim. "I'm afraid I can't do that." He answered Lucas.

Lucas nodded easily, turning his head forward again. "I thought as much. You're much too good-natured for something as rough as war." He waved his hand in the air in farewell. "In any case, I'd stop trying to convince me if I were you, Shepherd. Us war dogs will do anything for a bone. It's all we're good at." With that, he left.

Sorey clenched his teeth, letting Lucas stroll off into the depths of the camp. The rest of the group came to a halt alongside him in the central area of the Woodsmen's camp.

Velvet crossed her arms in the wake of Lucas's words. "That's about how I thought it would go." She watched Lucas tromp off through the mud with pursed lips. "There really wasn't all that much hope for you to convince him not to fight in the first place." she calmly pointed out.

Lailah nodded somberly. "Much like the young soldier by the gate," she observed, "it would seem that the Woodsmen too have their own values that they live and die by."

"Meaning, the sword." Mikleo shook his head in frustration. "Ugh. …Can't they all see that they're going to be used as nothing more but meat shields in the war?" He sighed. "They're well-meaning people. The idea of them being sent to die in this war is just… disturbing, to say the least."

Velvet shrugged, her hard eyes scanning the surrounding camp. "Well, what else would you have them all do?" She asked rhetorically. "Sit around and gather dust like books on a shelf while their families go hungry?"

"Of course not!" Mikleo shot back heatedly. "I'd just want them to do something… else! Something that doesn't equate to an untimely death for them!"

"They live to fight." Velvet waved her bandaged hand dismissively. "That's how they chose to live, and now it's all they know." She turned and met Sorey's conflicted expression. "You might be worried about them, but ultimately it's their choice whether they risk their lives doing what they want to do." She shook her head, her words stern. "That's how they've chosen to live and how they've chosen to die, and that's all there is to it."

Sorey sighed, slowly running a hand through his hair in response. "…It's just all so senseless." He muttered helplessly.

Edna crossed her legs while twirling her umbrella. "That's the nature of war." She shrugged. "War knows neither justice nor malice. On the battlefield, there are only the survivors and the casualties. That's simply how it is." She waved a hand in the air. "And unlike that soldier back there, these humans are all fit and ready to fight. There's really no point in trying to stop them from doing what they can and will do."

Sorey just shook his head again, wordlessly looking around camp as war preparations continued.

"I am Commander General Landon of the Hyland Army. I was told the Shepherd was present?"

Heads turned as the loud, commanding voice rang through the camp. Hooves and boots squelched loudly in the muddy camp trails as a massive armored warhorse trotted through, flanked by half a dozen weary-looking Hyland knights. Woodsmen mercenaries and Marlinders alike stood at attention as they went by, quickly giving way to the burly men.

Lucas, standing tall and proud, strolled up to the men with a raised eyebrow as they neared Sorey and the others. He put his hands on his belt as the men came to a stop before them. "Was under the impression that war had just broken out." The leader of the Woodsmen remarked loudly. "What brings you down to seek the Shepherd in our lowly camp with so many troops, General Landon?" He nodded his head with due respect at the mounted man.

The extravagantly clad general atop the black warhorse barely spared the man a glance before his eyes came to a rest upon Sorey. His single eye narrowed. "…You. You're the Shepherd?" He demanded, sparing Velvet a quick sharp glance before returning to Sorey.

The Shepherd answered with a slow nod. "That's me."

The general seemed to sneer for a second before returning his face into a neutral expression. "Then I am in the right place." He rolled his shoulder in a lazy gesture.

In response to the man's prompt, one of the many soldiers clad from heel to toe in steel accented with blue uniforms stepped primly forward and unrolled an official scroll with the seal of the Hyland royal family on the back for all to see. All around, the mixed group of mercenaries and working civilians fell into a hush as the soldier cleared his throat in preparation for the formal declaration.

"…On suspicion of using the Shepherd to foment discord against the state, as well as assisting the Rolance Empire with its invasion, the Kingdom of Hyland formally announces an official investigation and subsequent interrogation of Alisha Diphda, Princess of Hyland."

The camp was silent. Wide-eyed mercenaries and townsfolk exchanged incredulous glances. Whispers already began to spread amongst the people as the news was quickly repeated to those outside of the crowd.

"…That's… that's utter nonsense…!" Sorey seethed under his breath.

The general had not taken his eyes off of Sorey. He seemed to note the Shepherd's clenched fists and narrowed eyebrows with a distinct amount of pleasure. "…It is not an arrest, Shepherd." General Landon assuaged easily, idly readjusting the gauntlet straps on his wrists. "Merely an investigation into her recent actions, many of which are undeniably suspicious in nature."

Edna deadpanned. "Well, this certainly stinks to high heaven." She muttered. By her side, Lailah had her hands interlaced in front of her dress, concern clear on her expression.

The general continued, "But… if the Shepherd-"

"-If the Shepherd does as he is told, the Kingdom of Hyland promises to let their hostage go in exchange, is that right?" Velvet's sharp, harsh words cut through the silence and stirred the spectators into a frenzy of whispers. By the general's side, the soldiers too shuffled around in their armor, glancing at each other with unreadable expressions underneath their metal helmets.

Landon himself turned to glare down his nose at the raggedly clothed woman with sheer disdain. "…And who might you be?" he growled.

"The Shepherd's advisor." she snarled back. "Velvet." She shifted on her feet, putting a hand on her hip and defiantly meeting the general's glare. Disdain towards the general keenly radiated from her in all respects; disdain at such an arrogant insect of a man demanding the Shepherd's aid in such a way.

"Hmph. Well then, Velvet." Landon let out a huff, shaking his head. "As it would seem that we have resorted to being blunt, I shall respond in kind..."

He shifted in his saddle, sneering down at the insolent woman in turn. "It goes without saying that I would be more than happy to act upon your concerns, provided the likes of you could produce even a shred of evidence to support such ridiculous claims." He shook his head slowly. "Yet regardless, I shall not pretend that the Hyland Army would not greatly benefit from the addition of a… Shepherd in its ranks." He let out an amused chuckle at some inside joke.

Abruptly, he jerked a hand in the air above his head and sucked in a deep breath.

"This is WAR, need I remind you?!" He roared, his call resounding across the entire camp. People all around flinched at his undeniably commanding bellow as he addressed the spectators of villagers and mercenaries directly.

He continued loudly, "The last thing I would want to see is our great and prosperous nation wholly desolated by those dogs of Rolance catching us off guard!" His arm fell down to cut horizontally around himself. "Look around you!" He ordered harshly. "This town, which I see is so well and fair, even after all of this plague talk… Torn to shreds! Your home! I would never in a millennium dream of seeing it razed to the ground under the fires of war! I imagine everyone here feels the same… or am I mistaken?!" He bellowed.

The discomfort of the crowd grew palatably with his statement. Whispers whirled around Sorey and Velvet; whispers acknowledging the reality and validity behind his words. It was clear that the people did feel keenly to the general's goal, regardless of the means he was using to achieve it.

By Velvet's side, Sorey's jaw tightened.

Landon's grin was that of the one who knew he held all the cards as he returned his gaze upon the focus of his speech. He raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Now then. What say you, Shepherd Sorey?" He asked with a sneer, openly mocking the title of the boy standing before him.

"Will you fight for the people you claim to love?" He leaned in maliciously. "Or… dare I say… is your title as Shepherd truly a mere façade, as many say it is? I do hope this is not the case."

"Why you…!" Mikleo's fury was palatable. He turned to Sorey urgently. "The timing of this is no coincidence." The seraph pointed out lowly. "Think about it. War only broke out a day or so ago. That messenger from the front only got here this morning. There was no way any correspondence made it from the capital to the battlefield in that time."

Sorey stared heatedly at the floor. "…That means that they've had this planned and ready for a while now." the Shepherd concluded softly.

"Yeah." Mikleo shook his head, once more glaring at the general's sneering face. "Damnit!" he snarled.

Edna sighed, rolling her umbrella on her shoulder. "We probably don't have a choice." She glanced off to the side. "If Alisha were to die at their hands…" She trailed off, looking Sorey in the eye.

A quiet silence fell in the wake of the implications of that statement.

Velvet glared up at the mounted general, her eyes hard and cold. Thoughts and calculations whirled through her head in an instant. Eventually, she came to a conclusion. "So," she drew his attention, "you're just asking the Shepherd to help you win the war. That's it?" She asked, pointedly raising an eyebrow.

The general nodded graciously at the Shepherd's advisor. "Naturally." He confirmed. "That is my simple, humble request to the good Shepherd." He bowed his body slightly in reverence towards Sorey. "Given the victory of Hyland, all doubts against Princess Alisha shall be dispelled and she will be released with nothing more said on the matter."

Velvet nodded, glancing sharply at Sorey. "…It's your decision, Shepherd." She said simply.

He gave her a soft nod in return before meeting the general's eyes. He took a step forward and stood up straight, defiantly holding his chin up towards the mounted man. "Then you have my word." he declared. "I shall uphold my end of the agreement."

The rest of the crowd shifted and murmured once more at his words. A certain degree of relief permeated the townsfolk as well. They would be saved! With the Shepherd at their backs, the army of Hyland would be unstoppable!

Lailah quietly listened to the whispers of the surrounding people anxiously, threading her fingers in front of her dress in concern. "…" She let out an anxious breath, glancing at Sorey in deep concern.

General Landon gave a pleased nod in response to the Shepherd's words. "Good. So then, Shepherd, I shall await you on the battlefield." He glanced around him, remembering the presence of the spectators. "As for all of you," He addressed them all, "do not fret. With the Shepherd at our side, the armies of Rolance have no chance against our combined holy might!" Grinning, he jerked the reins to turn his horse around, his accompanying knights following suit.

As the clanking of boots and clopping of hooves in mud faded and the surrounding mercenaries and townsfolk slowly resumed their work, the members of the group exchanged worried glances.

Velvet turned away from them all as they began to discuss possible plans for minimizing the impacts of the impending conflict, instead turning her eyes up into the sky. It would seem that the first real trial of the Shepherd was soon to begin.

…And that her tool would soon either become a keener, stronger blade than ever… or simply break like brittle, untempered steel. She nodded to herself with a cold, determined expression.

It would seem that all was still going according to plan.

In the distance, dark storm clouds were brewing, encroaching upon the clear skies above the town of Marlind.

---​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 12 - Velvet.

Dark clouds blanketed the land for as far as the eye could see, broken only by occasional rays of sunshine; volatile threads of light briefly piercing down into the sea of darkness below. A grim, foreboding gust of dry air blew across the hollow, barren landscape, disturbing the ripped flags hanging from rotting rally point markers. A wake of black vultures circled quietly above, patiently biding their time until their next opportunity to feed. There was nothing green as far as the eye could see. A truly desecrated blot of land that was yet another victim of human conflict.

Dark swarms of arrows, shot indiscriminately and at random, arced through the air overhead like terrifying squalls of fletched steel. Howls and cries of soldiers echoed throughout the basin as the clashes continued sporadically. Battalions fought against battalions, squads faced off against other squads, and man battled against man. Offenses, skirmishes, and retreats continued in a seemingly endless, futile dance of suffering and attrition. Oceans of azure blue uniforms crashed against seas of crimson red over and over again. Amidst it all, screams of agony meshed with vicious war-cries being cried out at the behest of both Rolance and Hyland. Among the chaos, both names seemed irrelevant.

Footsteps slammed on the dry dirt as the lone Shepherd and his followers sprinted hurriedly through one of the many narrow canyons carved into the floor of the Glaivend Basin, gasping for breath. Even as they ran, the sounds of the nearby battles reached their ears, reminding them of the peril they were in for every waking moment.

Mikleo gritted his teeth as he ran. "It sounds like the fight's getting closer." He panted. "I don't think the Hyland forces are going to hold out for much longer."

Lailah glanced over her shoulder with a worried expression. "We must hurry!" She urged. "At this rate, Lucas and the rest of the Woodsmen will be overwhelmed!"

"Looks like paid mercenaries are considered even more disposable than your average soldier." Edna noted with disdain. "That slimy general must've drawn his troops back the moment the going got tough and told the mercenaries to stay behind and cover their retreat."

At the head of the group, Sorey gritted his teeth and lowered his head, picking up his pace. Velvet Crowe ran alongside the Shepherd with a grim expression, her hair and jacket slinging behind her in the breeze.

Together, the group charged through the boiling, suffocating cauldron of malevolence, surrounded by the cacophony caused by the chaos of conflict. Overhead, the clouds seemed to writhe and shift in the volatile winds, throwing errant rays of sunlight every which way.

By chance, Velvet's eyes abruptly registered hints of distant movement in her peripheral vision. She dug her ironclad boots into the dry dirt and skidded to a halt, causing the rest of the group to follow suit. "There!" She yelled.

The uniforms of the Woodsmen were as an island of blaze orange amidst a rising tide of blood red. The group of a few dozen mercenaries had been corralled into a semi-circle by several squads of heavily armored Rolance soldiers, their backs pushed against the unscalable walls of the canyon. The battle cries of the relentless enemy soldiers mixed horribly with the howls of dying men as the numbers of the Woodsmen were slowly being whittled down bit by bit.

With her keen eyesight, Velvet could clearly see the sweat-drenched face of the mercenary leader as he was harried by three Rolance pikemen simultaneously. Lucas' bellowing voice carried easily over the network of jagged canyons that separated the Shepherd's group from their battle. At this rate, it was clearly only a matter of time before the Woodsmen were completely wiped out.

Sorey had clearly come to the same conclusion. He ran his eyes over the rugged landscape in his way before quickly finding the fastest solution. "Edna!" He prompted urgently over his shoulder. "I need you to get us over there, now!"

"On it." The earth seraph nodded, closing her eyes and concentrating. Her dress began to flap in the artificial wind as the powers she commanded began to converge into an arte.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Sorey turned around impatiently as General Landon rode angrily in atop his armored warhorse alongside a squad of mounted lancers, intercepting him at the edge of the cliff. The rest of the seraphim and Velvet stood guardedly behind him as the lancers immediately surrounded them, their hard steel helmets revealing no emotion as they blocked the path of the Shepherd's rescue attempt.

The heavy clopping of the general's warhorse rang over the battle cries of the Woodsmen and the Rolance soldiers in the distance as he came to a halt before the Shepherd, his expression utterly livid.

"Have you completely and utterly lost your mind?!" he bellowed furiously. "I order you to recall that on this battlefield, you are honor-bound to act under my orders, Shepherd. If I tell you to attack, you attack. If I tell you to retreat, you damn well better retreat!" He slammed his fist onto the chest of his heavy plate armor. "I am the highest-ranking soldier here, and you will give me the respect I damn well deserve!"

Sorey took a furious step forward. "You're telling me to just stand by obediently as you let Lucas and the rest of his men be slaughtered without batting an eye?!" he demanded incredulously. He angrily slashed his gloved hand in the air. "You left them all to die!" was his harsh accusation.

The General shook his head, scoffing incredulously. "To think I have to lecture a child on such infantile matters on the battlefield!" he spat.

Shaking his head, he sneered down at the pathetically unlearned Shepherd. "This is war, boy. I'll explain how war works to you in such simple terms even a naïve kid such as yourself should be capable of understanding: I give the orders and say who will die while the others win. In this case, those 'Woodsmen' are part of the former." He gestured sharply in the air towards the dying men in the distance. "With those braggarts serving as a key distraction, the rest of the main force will have considerably less of a force to battle, conversely allowing us to plunge straight into the heart of their army and thus route them all from behind."

He clutched his gloved hand into an iron fist with cold eyes. "Sacrifices go hand in hand with victory, Shepherd. It's only with a cool, cunning mind that an army has even the slimmest of margins for victory. And that's my job; to bring about that victory through whatever means I deem necessary." he sneered. "Hyland won't be saved from those Rolance fiends with just warm feelings and good intentions."

He glared down at the Shepherd with upmost authority. "I'll say it again. This. Is. War. Now wake the hell up and get back in line. THAT'S AN ORDER!" he bellowed furiously. In the background, a sharp cry of mortal agony ripped through the air as another one of the Woodsmen was mercilessly disemboweled by one of the Rolance soldiers.

Sorey had heard enough. His eyes flared with an otherworldly hue of brilliant yellow.

BANG!

A godly, thunderous roar utterly drowned out the bellowing of the angry general as entire boulders of dry rock that had previously been undisturbed for millennia violently jutted out from the ground in a circle surrounding the Shepherd's group. Well-bred war horses let out terrified screams as they were tossed in the air like toys, the soldiers mounted atop them being flung clear from their saddles. Men cried out in unadulterated horror as they tumbled to the ground like spent cockroaches whereas their horses crashed to the ground in crumpled heaps, with man and beast alike screaming in the agony caused by their dislocated limbs.

General Landon of the Hyland Army was slammed harshly into the rock as his own warhorse bucked and bolted, leaving him lying winded on his back and gasping heavily for breath as his own heavy armor now made it difficult for air to enter his chest. His eyes were wide in pure shock and disorientation as he glanced around him, taking in the state of his personal elite squad lying on the floor wiped out. A thick cloud of dislocated dust and dirt hung in the air, obscuring the world around him and leaving him choking and coughing on the ground.

His eyes widened in horror as he abruptly registered a figure walking slowly towards him, emerging from the cloud of dirt like a demon from legend.

The Shepherd's eyes glowed unnaturally in the dim gloom as he walked up to Landon, his entire body thrumming with untold power. The very earth seemed to quake with each step the unnatural godlike being took closer and closer towards the downed general.

Landon scrambled to gather his wits as best he could in the face of such terror-inspiring power. He tried his best to sit up, crawling backwards a few paces as the demon came closer and closer to him. "P-Princess Alisha-!" he began meekly.

"'Princess Alisha will be freed once the Shepherd wins the war for Hyland.'" Sorey's voice was cold and steeled as he came to a halt with the trembling general as his feet.

He narrowed his eyes. "You confirmed this statement in front of dozens of witnesses at the behest of my advisor." He glanced briefly over his shoulder at Velvet who was watching their exchange with an unreadable expression. "…At my behest, this statement was written down in an official document with the confirming signatures of all those whom had been present at the time, legally notarized by the head of the Sparrowfeather Merchants. Were you or the council to fail to honor the terms of our agreement, all of Hyland would soon know the full extent of your treachery and depravity."

Sorey crossed his arms, emotionlessly holding the terrified, confused gaze of the general. "There wasn't a single aspect of that agreement that compels me to follow your orders, General." He pointed out coldly. "I might have been forced into this war by the likes of you and yours, but I refuse to bend over backwards for the sake of your twisted notions of sacrifice and victory."

He gently rested a hand on the pommel of his ceremonial sword, his pure white cloak rippling in the winds generated by the power of armatization. "This power is mine and mine alone." He declared. "And there is no way I am going to let a sick person like yourself control the Shepherd around as if I were your personal hound of war!"

Sorey shook his head and met the general's eyes once more. "…Regardless, I have a job to do. Please understand," his eyes narrowed, "I will do whatever I personally deem necessary to get it done." he promised. "Is that clear?"

"I… Yes… I suppose… you would know… how best to use your power." The general stammered. Recognizing his complete and utter defeat on this matter, Landon lowered his head with a stiff jaw. "…Do as you wish, Shepherd."

Sorey nodded. He returned his mind back to the task at hand, striding forward towards the Woodsmen. The various injured Hyland lancers strewn about at his feet quickly scrambled out of his way, trembling and muttering.

Velvet followed quietly in the Shepherd's footsteps, briefly stopping to look over the sorry excuse of a general and his soldiers before she passed them with her lips drawn in a thin line. Landon was the sort of power-drunk, headstrong man who had probably never been truly beaten before in his entire life at anything, nor had he been forced to bow his head to anyone who did not already have his complete respect. Yet a mere encounter with the Shepherd was enough to put him in such a state within moments.

Such was the nature of the terrifying power in Sorey's hands.

Deep, powerful thrums resounded across the land as rocks once more jutted out from the ground, bridging the gaps between the landscape and allowing the Shepherd passage towards his goal. The group quickly resumed their hurried pace across the bridge of land, leaving the general and his men in their wake.

Landon opened his eyes once more, exhaling a shaky breath. "…C-curses." he swore. "Why didn't I listen to the warnings of those damn chancellors?" He muttered under his breath as he ran a gloved hand over his face. "What a fool I've been."

"G-General?" One of the fallen lancers managed to stammer as the Shepherd's group left.

Once more reminded of his position, General Landon quickly found his wits once more and looked over the sorry state of his men, his racing heart slowly returning to normal. "…I'm fine." He grunted, getting to his feet. "On your feet, men!" He yelled; his voice thankfully bereft of any tremors. He jerked his gloved hand back towards the main camp of Hyland. "We go to rally the troops of the main division." He announced loudly. "Our counterattack begins the moment the Shepherd initiates his assault!"

He raised his fist into the air, determined bravado once more steeling his features. "Never fear, for with that man at our side, victory for Hyland is utterly assured!" he bellowed. "DEATH TO THE ROLANCE EMPIRE!"

The rest of the soldiers were quick to respond, raising their lances and following with cries permeated with keen bloodlust. Their joint howls of war haunted the Shepherd and his group as they broke back into a run towards the Woodsmen over the haphazard bridge of earth constructed by Edna's powers.

Sorey gritted his teeth. This was just the beginning, he knew. As one, the group continued to run, deeper and deeper into the chaos.

---​

"Damn it all! Where the hell are those reinforcements?!" Lucas snarled, twirling his massive broadsword around and battling off the pikes of the Rolance soldiers slowly prodding him farther and farther back towards the wall of the canyon.

"BOSS!"

Lucas swore as he belated registered a swordsman who had slipped past the pikemen slashing right at his exposed neck.

SQUELCH!

"NO!" Lucas bellowed, watching helplessly as another one of his men was cut down in front of him, having placed his body right between the enemy and his leader. "You'll pay for that, bastard!" He roared, spinning around and slashing at the man whom had just murdered his right-hand man.

The swordsman who had just killed Lucas' comrade deftly leapt back, letting his fellow countrymen fend Lucas off of him with their long-reaching pikes. "There's nobody coming for you all." The Rolance soldier declared grimly, flicking his blade to get the deceased mercenary's blood off. "Those Hyland bastards have long since left you all for dead. Make it easy on yourselves. Surrender now, or we'll cut you all down to the last man."

Lucas cursed again.

He glanced around, reluctantly recognizing the harsh truth in the enemy swordsman's words. There were only a few dozen Woodsmen left, breathing raggedly and standing on shaky limbs. They had fought for far too long and against far too great numbers. They were properly surrounded on all sides by far, far too many soldiers. There was clearly no hope left for their sorry band.

The lead mercenary gritted his teeth, hard. "…If we surrender, do I have your word that my men will be spared?" he implored.

The swordsman nodded. "On my honor as Lieutenant, I swear." Behind his helmet, his mouth thinned. "However, I'm sure you're aware of the measures we as soldiers must take to ensure that your band of mercenaries never operates again as a result." he added soberly.

Lucas's eyes were hard. "Of course I do." he growled. "I knew damn well what I was signing up for."

He shook his head slowly, making his mind up. "…Alright, Lieutenant. You guys win." He exhaled a sigh as he let his body untense, standing up straight and proud. "If the seraphim find it in themselves to let me return to this world as a spirit, you'd damn well better believe I'm haunting that bastard general to the grave." he muttered savagely.

"Alright you bums!" he yelled out commandingly, causing the fighting to grind to a halt. "That's it! We tried our best here today." He met the eyes of the lieutenant soberly. "…Stop fighting and throw down your weapons. It's time to go home." He ordered quietly. "This is my final order to you all."

"Lucas, Sir!" One of them yelled. "You can't possibly-!"

Lucas rolled his eyes.

"I take it back, that was my second to last order!" He roared. "Shut up and let this happen!" He waved his free hand in the air. "You all know the rules of the game. We lost."

The mercenary whom had spoken up cursed silently, angrily tossing his sword to the blood-soaked earth at his feet. "Damnit!" he swore.

As one, the Woodsmen all collectively dropped their weapons where they stood, their expressions grim. In turn, the attacking Rolance soldiers lowered their weapons, standing down as the lieutenant stepped towards Lucas, taking off his helmet and respectfully holding the mercenary leader's gaze.

Lucas nodded wordlessly in response, dropping his own longsword to the ground. The heavy metal hitting rock resounded loudly across the suddenly deafeningly quiet battlefield. He took a step forward, quietly discarding the plates of armor that hung on his frame onto the ground as well.

The Rolance lieutenant stepped up before him, his broadsword gleaming in the gloomy lighting. "…Last words?" he prompted softly.

Lucas shook his head quietly, visibly steeling himself.

Nodding, the lieutenant drew his blade back, poised to ram into the man's gut.

"LUCAS!"

The world around the mercenary violently erupted into a chaotic flurry of earth, water, and fire. Soldiers all around screamed in shock and agony as they were tossed about by close-proximity explosions of flame, violent shards of protruding rock, and spontaneous, billowing waves of water. The air was inundated with otherworldly power flowing through the terrifying, awe-inspiring acts of magic the likes of which none of them had ever seen.

The lieutenant whom had been about to execute him was tossed bodily away by a fierce, piercing jet of water that had shot through the air like an arrow. His cry of surprise and pain mixed amongst the cries of the rest of his men as chaos was wrought amongst them all through the means of incomprehensible powers. He stood there, shocked still as he watched the chaos unfold right before him.

"GET DOWN!"

Lucas struggled to comprehend what he was seeing as a familiar raven-haired woman seemed to materialize out of the chaos, charging right at him. He let out an involuntary grunt as she tacked him with severe force, bringing him down with her as they tumbled backwards into the rest of the Woodsmen whom were all utterly untouched by the chaos running rampant amongst the Rolance soldiers.

The woman he somehow remembered was called Velvet got back to her feet and gave them all a harsh once-over, glancing briefly over at the explosions of magic behind her. Her narrowed eyes lingered on him. "Shut up and stay down, all of you." She growled lowly. "The Shepherd will take it from here."

Lucas gaped at her, wide-eyed. "The… S-Shepherd?" He gasped. "You don't mean… that kid?!" His eyes were drawn to the center of it all.

Sorey the Shepherd stood as a conductor, effortlessly organizing the chaos around him with impunity. Rolance soldiers scrambled and yelled helplessly as they were routed by the sheer ungodly power of the man. Dents were torn in the rock from an invisible giant's fist pounding the ground, sweeping whole squads of soldiers off their feet. Spontaneous explosions of flame lit up the canyon in flares of light that mimicked the sun itself, radiating ungodly amounts of heat and sending soldiers stumbling over themselves in a panicked, animal-driven instinct to flee. Finally, the Shepherd himself stood before the main mass of the soldiers, drawing his arms as if holding an imaginary bow and letting spontaneous plumes of water fly, eliciting huge detonations of liquid with forces comparable to that of a hurricane.

The vast sum of soldiers he and dozens of other battle-hardened mercenaries could not even imagine quelling were instantly routed by the power of one man… no. This was not the work of a mere mortal, Lucas corrected himself. This… this was god-like.

"RETREAT, TROOPS OF ROLANCE!"

Lucas flinched as the unnaturally amplified voice echoed in his brain, rattling his teeth. The rest of his men had similar reactions, whereas the troops to for whom the message was meant for reacted instantly by dropping their weapons and clutching their ears.

"D… DEMON!" The lieutenant from earlier, clutching a broken arm at his side howled loudly into the air at a volume that could barely rival the Shepherd's voice. "Hyland has monsters on their side!" The man screamed in terror. "RUN! Everyone, RUN!"

Utter chaos followed. The Rolance soldiers, whom had earlier been so organized and structured, completely broke ranks and collectively bolted like a herd of terrified prey. Driven by their base instincts in the face of something so incomprehensibly terrifying, the men in red armor stumbled over themselves to retreat, let out cries of pure terror in the process.

The last of the soldiers retreated out of the canyon at breakneck pace, with even the slower, injured soldiers soon vanishing out of sight, leaving the Shepherd standing alone amidst an empty, desolate field of abandoned weapons and land desecrated by his own inhuman powers.

A deathly silence fell.

Quietly, Sorey slowly turned around, his glowing eyes slowly fading in hue and returning to a seemingly normal green color as he let his gaze fall upon the cowering Woodsmen mercenaries. His jaw was set as he glanced over the terrified expressions of the people he had just saved, his gaze finally meeting Lucas' undeniably terrified and confused eyes.

He stepped forward slowly, trying his best to ignore the flinching of the dozens of people before him. He quietly came to a halt before Lucas, his deceptively boyish face breaking into a soft, honest smile.

"…I'm glad you're alright, Lucas." He remarked softly, though his words might've been as loud they had earlier with how the men winced in their wake.

Lucas was lost for words. Nothing in his life had prepared him for this.

Suddenly, a different voice rang out, echoing off the walls of the canyon. "You did well." Lucas watched as the woman named Velvet casually walked up to the god-like entity that was the Shepherd and placed a hand on her hip. "Far as I could tell, you didn't hurt anybody too badly." She shrugged, looking away. "…Though it was sloppy as hell."

To Lucas's surprise, the Shepherd abruptly broke into a light laugh, though his smile didn't reach his eyes. "I know, I know. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to using my powers." He agreed, scratching his cheek sheepishly.

Lucas blinked, bewildered at the conversation taking place.

Velvet waved her bandaged hand in the air uncaringly. "You might want to work on your intimidation too." She added dryly. "I don't think your act could've scared a gnat away if they knew anything about what you're really like."

"Heh." Sorey rubbed his nose with an index finger and a small, genuine smile. "Busted." He blinked as he noticed Lucas moving from his spot on the ground.

"W-well… I… I'll be damned."

Lucas slowly got to his feet on shaky legs. He met the Sorey's honest, boyish eyes as he hesitantly straightened his back, before glancing at Velvet, standing casually besides him. He shook his head, steeling his resolve and finding his voice. "…S-Shepherd Sorey." He managed to say respectfully. "…I thank you for your help. The Woodsmen are at your service."

He shook his head, forcing strength into his voice. "I… Isn't that right, WOODSMEN?!" He roared.

With the sudden reminder of who they were alongside Lucas's apparent display of fearlessness before the might of the great Shepherd, the rest of the Woodsmen clamped down on their own fears and found their voices.

"…SHEPHERD SOREY!" They roared. "SHEPHERD SOREY!"

Their rallying cries resounded off the walls of the canyon as they got to their feet, lifting their retrieved weapons in the air with powerful war cries. At their front, Lucas stood proudly, putting both his hands on his hips.

Sorey's face abruptly broke into a genuine, warmed smile in the face of their combined support. "You guys…" He breathed.

At his side, unseen by the rest of the mortals, Edna twirled her umbrella lightly. "Color me impressed." she commented lightly. The seraph glanced at Sorey. "I honestly thought you were going to cry." she noted with a smirk.

Mikleo grinned, patting Sorey's back supportively. "Of course not. Our strong, fearless Shepherd would never fall prey to such emotion." he mock declared.

Lailah's smile was soft as she gazed over the chanting Woodsmen with her hands intertwined in front of her dress. "It would appear that there are some flames out that even the might of the Shepherd can't stifle." she remarked.

"…Yeah." Sorey breathed softly.

He shook his head and raised his voice. "Woodsmen!" the Shepherd addressed. A few dozen faces looked back at him, standing to the attention of the almighty Shepherd himself with varying degrees of fear, respect and peculiar mixtures of both.

Sorey nodded respectfully in the face of their attention. "…The Hyland Army has abandoned you all, and yet your flanking maneuver was ultimately successful." he announced. "From what I can tell, your work is done here. Please, rest easy, everyone." he suggested with an earnest smile. He then glanced at Lucas. "…And if for any reason they don't end up paying you what you and your men deserve, you tell them to come to me to dispute it." he finished with a cheeky grin.

Standing behind him, Velvet let out an amused huff as she crossed her arms. The kid learned fast; she'd give him that much.

The Woodsmen let out a much louder, more united rallying cry in response.

As the cries of the mercenaries began to die down, Lucas quickly found his rhythm once more in what he did best. "Alright, bums!" He grinned wolfishly. "I nearly died just now for you all, so I expect top-notch work from everyone for the rest of the day!" The rest of the mercenaries chuckled good-naturedly in response.

"Alpha and Bravo Squads secure the perimeter! We're fortifying this area for future Hyland offensives." he ordered. "Charlie Squad, I expect trenches to be at least at chest height by the end of the day! Runners, get ready to head back to the main camp, so you can let that bastard of a general know that we did what he wanted us to, and that if he needs us for anything else, he can go right to hell!"

He turned back to Sorey with a grin. "'Cuz we got new orders from the Shepherd himself! That's everything. Everyone, don't slack off out there!" he yelled. The men responded in kind with fierce roars, quickly organizing themselves back into their units and dispersing, headed to their own individual tasks.

Sorey watched the Woodsmen go, heartened beyond measure by the genuine respect he had gained from the people he had come to save.

"…Come on, guys." He breathed, turning away and towards where the Rolance soldiers had fled. His smile faded from his expression as he hardened his gaze. "We're not done yet."

The rest of the seraphim nodded.

"We're right behind you." Mikleo reassured easily.

Edna idly rested her closed umbrella on her opposite shoulder. "Don't get all stupid gung-ho about this, okay?" she reminded him. "Just do what you need to do to get it all over with."

Lailah dipped her head in kind, her expression hardening. "…Indeed." she agreed quietly. "We shall do what we must, to that end."

Sorey nodded grimly. He then abruptly blinked, registering someone walking by him. "Velvet?" He asked in confusion, turning to the woman walking past him towards the heart of the battlefield, alone.

"…Sorey." she spoke softly, keeping her back to the rest of the group. "How do you feel now?"

The Shepherd shifted slowly on his feet. "You mean… about how people have been reacting to my powers?"

At her nod of confirmation, he crossed his arms seriously. "Well, it hurts quite a bit, to be honest." he admitted. "But… it's like you said, back in Marlind." Sorey's fist clenched as he held it up to his chest. "I am who I am, and who I decide to be." he reaffirmed softly. "I'll get used to being treated as a monster." he declared. "I'll do it if it means I'll have a shot at making my dream come true. That's all there is to it."

"…I see."

Velvet's tone was unreadable. She abruptly resumed walking. "Then go." she ordered. "Do what you have to."

Mikleo's eyes widened. "Are you crazy?!" He demanded. "You're headed straight into the battlefield! That's no kind of place for a walk!" Beside him, Edna quietly exchanged a glance with Lailah.

Sorey's expression didn't change as he took in his companion's words.

"…Will we be able to find you afterwards?" he asked simply.

Velvet stopped. "You and I are headed in the same direction. That much hasn't changed." She glanced over her shoulder and met his gaze, a strange look in her eyes. "I'll find you." she promised. Her gaze drifted away from his.

"This is simply something you need to experience for yourself." she muttered.

With that, the resonant traveler walked off on her own, her tattered black coat rippling in the dry wind of the battlefield. Sorey watched her leave, his eyebrows furrowed in her wake.

"Sorey, you really going to let her just leave like that? There's no telling what might happen to her out there!" Mikleo implored in confusion.

Sorey shook his head in response, instead turning around towards where the Rolance soldiers had retreated. "…I don't know why, Mikleo." he admitted. "But something tells me to just trust her on this for now."

Lailah walked up alongside him; her lips pursed. "Yes." she breathed. "I believe… that would be the best course of action for now. We should trust that Velvet can handle herself."

Behind them all, Edna shook her head, tapping her boots impatiently on the ground. "Hello? Don't we have a war to win?" she prompted.

"…Right." Taking one last glance towards the departing enigmatic traveler, Sorey shook his head and put his mind back at the task at hand. "Come on. We're not finished yet."

Together, the Shepherd's group set off, headed towards the center of Glaivend Basin, where the malevolence of thousands of souls boiled together like a massive cauldron of hatred and despair.

Meanwhile Velvet Crowe walked her own path. As she always had.

---​

Steel-plated boots clinked quietly in the dried dirt as a lone woman with long raven hair methodically traversed the various winding canyons of the basin. Screams and bellows of distant conflicts accompanied by the distinct clangs of metal meeting metal served as constant background noise as Velvet traversed the area, forging carelessly ahead through the thick malevolence permeating the air. She needed time to clear her head.

The therion came to a halt in the middle of a deep, empty canyon and closed her eyes. Idly, she listened to the background noise of chaos and horror as the irrelevant war of the humans continued all around her.

Her goals would never be fulfilled if she were to keep on acting as the Shepherd's crutch.

Hardship, sorrow, and agony were all necessary ingredients to have him grow as both a person and as a Shepherd. It was necessary that she didn't assist him as he suffered through what trials he would undoubtedly undergo in the days and weeks to come. He would have to be beaten down and built back up, over and over and over again. And it would be up to her to force him through it all underneath a mask of duplicity, in both the figurative and literal sense of the word.

Forging the boy into a worthy Shepherd required a harsh, manipulative agenda. Being his friend would never achieve anything, not to mention being completely pointless due to her very nature as one of the beings he was inclined to destroy.

And so far, she'd been making good progress.

Him standing up to the Hyland general earlier showed just how far he'd come in terms of sheer decisiveness since meeting her. That naïve boy that once had to look to Lailah for guidance with every choice he was supposed to make was long gone. Not only that, but Shepherd Sorey was also slowly gathering the self-confidence of a leader as evidenced by his interaction with the Woodsmen. For all intents and purposes, the Shepherd was indeed turning out to become a very fine tool indeed. At this rate, with her continued manipulations, he'd become a powerful, decisive Shepherd.

One that could wield a sword of reason and will and be able to achieve the impossible. One that could finally free Laphicet from the clutches of the current Lord of Calamity.

It would seem that she was accomplishing exactly what she had set out to achieve in the first place. Everything was going according to plan.

Yet…

Her fists curled harshly. Malevolence began to seep out from the cracks of her suppression, wreathing her body in the physical manifestation of her self-hatred. Her eyes opened, briefly flashing crimson as she twisted her expression into a scowl, hatefully staring at her own hands.

Velvet froze abruptly, her ears picked up the acute sound of clanking metal approaching. She didn't move at all as the group of ten Rolance soldiers approached her, muttering amongst themselves in surprised voices she could easily discern with her inhuman sense of hearing. She listened as the leader of the team gave quiet, sharp orders to surround her immediately. The rest of the soldiers quickly followed his command, giving the strange woman standing in the middle of the canyon a wide berth with their weapons drawn.

It was only until the boots of the leader stepped into her view did she react. "…What?" she growled impatiently.

"Who in the hell are you?" the Rolance squad leader growled tersely, glancing around briefly before confirming that the woman was in fact, all alone. "What are you doing here, and who for that matter, do you serve?"

When she didn't respond, the man let out a frustrated growl and unsheathed his shortsword, resting the point directly on Velvet's exposed neck.

"Answer me damnit!" he spat.

All around him, the rest of his squad tensed as well, uneasy in the presence of a possible Hyland spy.

Velvet slowly lifted her head, her long hair lifting from her back, and glared directly at the impudent squad leader.

"I'm in a bad mood." she warned in a low voice.

"Eh?" the leader blinked. "Do I look like I give a rat's ass?" He shook his head and took an aggressive step forward, the point of his sword drawing a slight pinprick of blood from Velvet's neck. "Who. Do. You. SERVE?!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"…Myself." Velvet snarled.

With a mere flick of her wrist, her gauntlet blade burst from its sheath. Exploding into motion, the therion thrust her head back, avoiding the laughable swing of the leader's sword, and brought her ironclad boot up in retaliation to kick the blade clean out of his hands with inhuman strength. Gliding through the air, she reached down and touched the ground, pushing off it and completing a full somersault away from the man.

The moment her boots hit the dirt, she raised her bandaged left hand and uttered a fierce, unhinged scream. Her claw exploded out from its bandages, unseen by the non-resonant humans.

The closest soldier moved to ram his pike through her abdomen. Without even sparing the man a glance, Velvet's claw jerked behind herself and she grabbed the neck of the pike. From the knights' perspective, they could only gape as the woman exhibited inhuman strength, swinging the pike over her shoulder as if it were a mere stick, heedless of the fully-grown armored man still gripping onto the other end helplessly.

CRASH!

The soldier was instantly knocked unconscious as he was slammed helm-first into the ground in front of Velvet. The woman didn't stop there, ripping the spear out of the other man's now-loose grip and spinning around, slamming the stick end into the side of the swordsman trying to charge her. The wood of the pike cracked with a sharp crack while her most recent victim was sent flying into the side of the canyon, slumping limply to the ground.

Dropping the useless split pike, Velvet's eyes bulged as she charged forward towards her next target. "OUTTA MY WAY!" she screamed, jerking her blade towards the panicking soldier.

Sparks flew as her sword rammed into his hastily raised shield. Without missing a beat, she whirled gracefully around, bringing her steel boot up to bear. The man let out a scream as the hidden blade of her boot leapt out and grazed a gash on his unarmored legs. He was quickly silenced when she spun again and slammed her other foot into his abdomen, completely bypassing his armor with sheer brute force and causing him to crumple to the floor.

Velvet fell into a cartwheel, dodging two simultaneous attacks as a pair of spearmen attempted to skewer her at the same time from opposite ends. She retaliated by kicking one spear away, leaping inside the man's reach, and wrapping her massive claw around the man. He howled in surprise and shock as the woman lifted his entire body with a single handbefore he was bodily hurtled towards his fellow spearman. The other spearman panicked as his comrade was thrown towards him, hastily dropping his spear so as not to skewer him before the man slammed directly into him with unbelievable force. The two spearmen tumbled to the ground in a tangled mess of armor at one of the walls of the canyon, both knocked clean out.

"Next!" The therion snarled, exploding into motion in a charge towards the few remaining soldiers who hurriedly tried to get into formation in preparation for her attack. Their best efforts were rendered moot as Velvet drew her claw back, snarling with effort as she charged a decent amount of mana into her monstrous palm. "Carve them up!" she declared, her eyes glowing a vibrant shade of blood red.

"Hell's Claw!"

BOOM!

The limp bodies of three soldiers went skidding limply away, all rendered unconscious by the close-range explosion of mana delivered by the monster's claw.

Heaving for breath, Velvet turned slowly towards the last remaining soldier, the chains on her outfit clinking softly in the silence. The leader of the team's mouth was agape as he stumbled backwards.

"N-no!" he pleaded, dropping his sword.

Velvet's eyes narrowed mercilessly. She tromped right up to him and slammed her fist into his stomach, feeling a minor but satisfying crunch in response. The man crumpled to the floor, groaning and clutching his abdomen before soon falling unconscious as well.

In the aftermath of battle, Velvet stood alone, relishing the sensation of adrenaline surging through her veins. By her side, her daemon claw flourished amidst the malevolence in the air, pulsating hungrily.

Suddenly, she registered the clanking of more metal. She cursed herself for getting too caught up in her emotions, belatedly remembering that there had been ten soldiers to begin with. Swiftly as she could, she let her gauntlet blade shoot out from its sheath as she whirled around, intercepting a second gauntlet blade that belonged to her enemy in a loud, harsh burst of sound.

CLANG!

Velvet's eyes widened abruptly in shock. Her sword arm slackened almost immediately.

"…Leo?!"

Leonex Davidson, wearing the bright maroon uniform of a Rolance soldier, grinned back wryly at her through the darkness of his dirty steel helmet.

"Bug up your butt, Velvet?" He grinned.

A flash of green abruptly filled the air alongside a familiar hum. Materializing down by Leo's feet, the wolf pup named Hawk rolled his eyes at his master's antics as he trotted forward and gently butted Velvet's left leg affectionately.

The armored man sheathed his sword with a sigh, looking around and examining Velvet's handiwork all around them. His fellow Rolance squad members had been scattered about the canyon, all unconscious. "You know," he remarked dryly as he took his helmet off, "we've really gotta stop meeting like this."

Finally, Velvet managed to break out of her shock, sheathing her sword as well. She absently flicked her left hand to dispel her hellion claw as she turned to face him fully. "…So, what happened to staying put in Pendrago?" she asked, raising an eyebrow while resting a hand on her hip.

"Ah, yeah, about that." Leo ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. "Just hours after I had that conversation with Zaveid, I got wrapped up in a detachment of troops headed for the offensive at the front lines. So that really didn't work out as planned." he shrugged. "Still, I figured I'd most likely find you here anyways. You're just always attracted to trouble, ya know?" he added with a smirk.

Velvet sighed. "Well, I can't exactly deny that." she shook her head, shifting on her feet. "I take it you haven't been sitting idly by these past few months either?" she prompted, gesturing at his blood-red uniform.

"Of course not!" Leo knelt down and ran his gloved hand over Hawk, who gave a yip of affection in return. "I've been enjoying my time away from the horrid Lord of Calamity, you know." he grinned. "Rolance has some absolutely fantastic hot springs, by the way."

"…Somehow I doubt that's what you've been doing."

He shrugged. "Well, regardless, I think you and I have some catching up to do." His expression grew sober. "Especially given what happened to Phi."

Velvet shut her eyes and nodded quietly. "That we do."

Leo's eyes were keen as he studied Velvet carefully. He got to his feet, letting Hawk go off and romp around the canyon on his own.

"…I heard from Zaveid about what you're doing." he said quietly. "Manipulating the new Shepherd, some kid called Sorey, into becoming someone strong enough to free 'Maotelus' from the current Lord of Calamity."

She nodded wordlessly in confirmation.

He crossed his arms, idly tapping his armored boots on the ground. He opened his mouth before closing it, glancing away. The sound of a distant battle continued in the silence that followed.

Eventually, he settled for a different topic. "This place has changed just a bit while we were gone, huh?" he prompted humorously.

She let out a scoff. "That's an understatement. It's all pretty much unrecognizable."

Leo shook his head. "Not quite. Loegres might have a different name, but it is surprisingly similar to what it was in the old days." He broke into a wry grin. "And Zaveid is still here."

"I'm not too sure if that second one is really a good thing." Velvet noted wryly.

"And from what I could gather from my sources back in the capital," Leo continued, "It would seem that the little Empyrean has really done a great job keeping this place in line." He waved his hand errantly. "Yes, it's kinda gone to shit now, but it would seem that in the years following Phi's awakening, the world's experienced quite a few ups and downs."

"Plenty of battles between Shepherds and Lords of Calamity, you mean." Velvet corrected.

Leo nodded with a grin. "Makes for a much more interesting history book than having all of humanity losing their emotions, period. Don'tcha think?"

"Ever the insufferable optimist." Velvet rolled her eyes. "You haven't changed."

"And you're the same brooding ice-queen that you always were." Leo shot back without missing a beat. "You really beat the hell out of my squad!" he gestured indignantly around at the bodies littering the floor. "Just how the hell am I supposed to explain this to the captain, huh?!"

Her eye twitched. "I don't think I should be held responsible when you didn't make your presence known in the first place!"

"And what, pray tell, was I supposed to say?" Leo shot back. "'Hey, this weird ass lady standing in the middle of a battlefield isn't a Hyland spy, but actually an inter-world travelling buddy of mine?'" He waved his hand in the air dismissively. "I'd have a better time trying to convince them that I wasn't the one who stole their bacon the morning before the attack, but that in reality it was actually an invisible, spoiled little mutt called Hawk!" He glanced over his shoulder. "That's right you little shit!" He yelled indignantly. "I took the heat for you when you didn't even share any with me!"

The wolf pup called Hawk simply flicked his tail lazily in response on the other side of the canyon as he sniffed one of the unconscious bodies.

Velvet crossed her arms in clear disproval. "I could have ended up eating them all." she pointed out beratingly. "How would you have felt then?"

"Velvet, I've known you long enough to know what does and what doesn't suit your palate." He dismissed immediately. "You never would've killed them without a good reason." Leo deadpanned. "Unfortunately, I also know that my cooking is even higher on that list."

"Still no improvement, I take it?" Velvet huffed. "Typical."

Leo just grumbled under his breath. "Listen. I didn't come halfway across the world just for you to insult my culinary skills… or lack thereof, alright?"

She tilted her head to the side. "So why are you here, then?"

Leo gave her a hurt look. "Why, to check on my 'cousin,' as it were." He raised an eyebrow. "At least, I assume that's what you're calling me this time around as well?"

"Yeah." Velvet confirmed. "I told Sorey and the others I'm a traveler from a village on the outskirts of Lakehaven Heights, on a journey to look for my equally resonant cousin."

"Had no idea you cared so much about me." Leo muttered wryly.

He cocked his head to the side. "…So." he prompted. "Is Edna just like how Eizen described her? Zaveid seemed to hold her in pretty high regard. Or from little I could tell from his demeanor."

"All that and then some." She smiled softly. "…I think Phi would like to meet her."

Leo chuckled. "…I'm sure he will when we finally succeed." He abruptly groaned, stretching his shoulders. "Though I must say, I miss quite a few things about the old Desolation. For one, not having to walk everywhere would be nice." He sighed. "I miss the Van Eltia. And those stupid pirates."

Velvet deadpanned. "And you call Hawk spoiled? Pot calling the kettle black, don't you think?"

"Oh shut up." Leo easily waved her disdain off. "And then there's that annoying thing where this world doesn't even have gunpowder anymore. Much as I hate to say it, seems like Melchior was actually right, in the end." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in irritation. "I had to dismantle and hide my rifle somewhere secret the moment I found that out. It was just a bit too conspicuous."

"Forgive me if I forget to feel bad for you." Velvet shrugged.

Leo's eye twitched. "You, on the other hand, literally, lucked the hell out!" he exclaimed, gesturing wildly. "You get to toss people about like they're twigs and all they see is just a particularily grouchy old hag with supernatural strength." he muttered resentfully. "Not fair."

He winced as he registered Velvet's bone-chilling glare that he knew from experience promised imminent violence. "Kidding!" he yelped desperately.

Hawk rolled his eyes, coming to his master's rescue by trotting back over and nudging the daemon once more. The hardened therion couldn't help but oblige the spoiled mutt by kneeling down and running her hand over the malak's fur.

"…But hey, Velvet?" Leo's voice was soft.

He hesitated as she glanced up at him. "Don't let things get to you too much, huh?" he suggested quietly.

Velvet looked away, her petting becoming an afterthought. "What makes you think that I am?" she asked in an inflectionless voice.

Leo let out a scoff, gesturing to his surroundings. "It's a bit obvious. Whenever you get into a bad mood, people around you tend to feel pain for some strange reason." He shook his head. "Just… don't let all of this get to your head, alright? You're not alone in this." he promised gently. "Don't forget that."

Velvet nodded ever so slowly; her eyes soft.

"…Right." She mumbled.

"DEMON! THERE'S A DEMON!"

Their gazes were instantly drawn to the mouth of the canyon out from which a large group of weaponless Rolance soldiers suddenly poured through, scrambling over themselves in a mad panic. Loud yet distant explosions shook the ground, rattling the earth underfoot and causing the retreating men to emit noises that betrayed their terror as they scrambled even faster away, sprinting past Leo and Velvet back towards the Rolance camp.

"RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Leo crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Velvet as the panicked soldiers charged past them in a blind panic. "Sounds like you're needed." He guessed dryly.

Velvet's eyes were hard as she nodded. "…Yeah."

In the distance, more eruptions of sheer power detonated; proof of the fledgling Shepherd's rigid determination. Steeling her nerves once more, the therion turned towards the source of the commotion. It was time to return to the roles she had made for herself. Time to return to falsity and manipulation.

She would do it because Phi's life depended on her.

That was all that mattered.

She took a step and paused, briefly turning around to face Leo and Hawk standing there together, watching her leave with soft expressions.

Velvet smiled gently. "It was nice to finally see you two again." she said simply, the words barely managing to reach the other two amidst the rampant chaos surrounding them. "Thanks for checking in on me."

Hawk yipped happily in response, his tail wagging enthusiastically.

Leo chuckled, nodding his head in acknowledgement. "Hey, what are friends for, huh?" He grinned back.

With that, he reached down and plucked his soldier's helmet from off the ground before sliding it back over his head. He gave his friend a two-fingered salute as he began to jog backwards, following the flow of his fellow soldiers. "Look for us in Lastonbell!" he called through the metal on his head. "See ya around, Velvet!"

With that, the two of them took off, Hawk disappearing in a flash of green back into Leo as he disappeared into the crowd of retreating Rolance soldiers.

Velvet stood there for a heartbeat longer, the smile slowly fading from her face.

She abruptly turned on her heel, facing her body towards the opposite direction and steeling her expression. She still had a job to do, and she was far from finished. With that thought firmly engraved into her mind, Velvet Crowe stepped forward with determination into the fray, unceasing in her resolution as always.

Above, permeating the air above the battlefield, the ungodly mass of generated malevolence hanging in the sky slowly began to churn and writhe.

---​

Greed, conceit, lust, cowardice, selfishness, obsession, despair, hatred.

All eight types of malevolence boiled around in the air in their most corrupted state, whirling around the incredible domain and wreathing the land itself. Billowing gusts of volatile wind whirled around in the vortex of forces brought about by the sheer concentration of human evil present in the air. A deathly low hum ground out from below as the very earth itself trembled amidst the cacophony of malevolence wrought about by the conflict between humans.

It was a domain, one powerful and corrupted enough to rival even Velvet's. The domain of a being that embodied all of the worst aspects of humanity. Velvet gritted her teeth and increased her pace, charging through the chaos that now covered what had once been a battlefield where armies of empires battled one another.

For within this domain, only chaos and madness remained.

Lizard hellions, clothed with residual colored scraps of what had once been finely sewn uniforms of proud nations, snapped and clawed madly at each other as they were bereft of any residual intelligence. Battered and bent swords deteriorated even more as they were clubbed mindlessly against each other by the rioting hellions. The land had become a sea of monsters; all of whom had once been soldiers.

The therion dodged salivating monsters left and right, weaving through the chaos as quickly as she could towards the eye of the storm; the source of all this malevolence. She absently recognized the body of an unconscious human lying on the ground as she ran by. General Landon's unconscious body was lying calmly amidst the storm, seemingly untouched by the chaos. The Shepherd had been here already.

Her jaw set as she neared the center of the storm. She wouldn't let anything interfere with her goals, she reminded herself. That had never, ever changed.

And it never would.

---​

"…So. Another Shepherd is born at last."

Malevolence oozed out of his being in thick, putrid waves. His face, utterly bestial and savage, twisted into something resembling amusement as the Lord of Calamity turned slowly to face the intruders in his domain that dared to retain their sense of virtue and rationality. Wreathed in a cloak of darkness accented by patches of pure, concentrated malevolence, the source of all evil in the world turned his gaze down to gauge the Shepherd and his group with an analytical eye.

Sorey stood before the monster with his seraphim at his back, curling his fists in determination. "You…" he breathed raggedly as he fought hard to withstand the crushing pressure of malevolence suffocating the surrounding air. "You must be…!"

"Hm." the bestial monster hummed, keenly noting the boy Shepherd's curled fist at his side. "…Frightened, are you?" he observed markedly.

Sorey gritted his teeth harshly, trying his best to steel his nerves in the face of such an incomprehensibly malevolent creature. Behind him, the seraphim struggled to maintain their stance in the billowing waves of miasma.

"And yet… the song of death." The massive hellion purred, leering at the Shepherd's group. "Ever so sweet."

Sorey stared, almost mesmerized by the Lord's gaze for a second before snapping harshly out of it. "Lailah!" he yelled defiantly, steeling his nerves. "Now!"

"R-right!" the seraph nodded nervously yet determinedly.

"FETHMUS MIOMA!"

His eyes emitting a brilliant hue of golden red and ablaze with determination, the Shepherd Sorey lunged forward towards the Lord of Calamity, determined to do what he must to achieve his goals.

Velvet Crowe watched silently as his massive flaming longsword was effortlessly caught by the Lord's enormous claw, who smirked evilly as he slowly bent the sword back in Sorey's grip. The Shepherd let out an anguished cry as he was tossed back by a mere gesture of the Lord, the Armatus dispelling in the wake of his failure. She watched as the Lord of Calamity advanced slowly upon the helpless Shepherd, sneering down upon him.

"How brilliant your purity… your innocence." the monster murmured observantly. "No painter could ask for a more… pristine canvas." Velvet watched on as the Lord abruptly let out a feral roar, concentrating his domain directly towards the Shepherd.

And she watched as Sorey's very resonance was suppressed, leaving him completely and utterly unaware of the seraphim standing right beside him. She watched as the Lord of Calamity turned his back on the Shepherd dismissively, a soft, satisfied grin on his features.

"Listen well, young Shepherd." he ordered, his voice managing to reach the boy behind him. "My name… is Heldalf."

He let out a soft chuckle. "…I wonder. How much longer will you live?" he let out a soft chuckle.

"What… what did you do to him?!" Lailah's shrill yell cut across the battlefield.

"Sorey! SOREY!" Mikleo yelled and yelled, yet nothing could reach the unseeing human glancing around in utter confusion before them.

Edna clicked her tongue. "We have to return back inside him, now." she said urgently, glancing around. "His resonance has been cut off. If we don't hurry, we'll be trapped outside him in this malevolence and end up as dragons." She poked Mikleo harshly. "We can't do anything for him right now. …You'll have to trust in him to make it through this by himself."

Mikleo swore under his breath. "Damnit!" He glared at the unseeing Shepherd with a look of complete hurt; one that only came from sheer powerlessness. "Sorey, you'd better not die on me!" he yelled, despite knowing fully that his lifelong friend could no longer hear him.

The two seraphim vanished in two plumes of green, leaving only Lailah standing by to follow suit.

Lailah's fists were curled as she stared back at the Lord of Calamity merely strolling away from his handiwork. "What… Just what do you want?!" She demanded shrilly.

Heldalf didn't answer, simply letting out a low exhale as he basked in the malevolence of his own domain. With the expanse of the chaos-ridden battlefield strewn out before him, his being was framed in a scene of pure and utter malice.

Lailah let out a breath filled with resentment, turning away from him and back towards Sorey, preparing herself to return back to her vessel. Yet, just before she retreated into the safety of her vessel's body, her eyes inadvertently fell on a black-clad figure standing calmly on one of the nearby cliff edges overseeing the area.

Her eyes widened in anger and betrayal… and recognition.

Standing and watching idly from afar, Velvet Crowe met the seraph's eyes coldly, her arms crossed.

"Fethmus… Mioma."

Sorey's weakened, ragged voice drew both of their gazes. The Shepherd hunched over even deeper, his sword held weakly in a guard over his head as a single lizard hellion stood before him, shoving its fists downwards upon the weak human. He let out an involuntary cry as he was pushed down onto his knees, still weakly holding up his sword.

"Fethmus Mioma!" he screamed, to no avail.

Lailah's panicked expression turned once more to Velvet's cold one as the hellions began to surround Sorey. Her imploring face said it all.

Save him, she begged. Save the Shepherd when nobody else can.

Yet, Velvet didn't move an inch.

It was just like what she had allowed to transpire in Marlind. Only through trial and triumph would a Shepherd rise to possess the incredible will and strength that the task she had set for them required. Heldalf, as he was called, had merely toyed with Sorey just now. There was no point in saving a tool that would never be able to live up to the potential she needed, let alone when its continued existence risked delaying the arrival of one that could.

This was a test. One that she would not interfere with. If he couldn't overcome this trial on his own, she'd simply find another tool that had the capacity to do what she needed it to do, one way or another.

Lailah's expression turned into one of pure dismay as she realized what Velvet was doing. Gritting her teeth, the now-powerless prime lord disappeared into Sorey's body, leaving him to face the dozens of hellionized monsters approaching him. Truly alone.

Velvet watched on as the hellions closed in upon the Shepherd, her jaw set and her eyes resolute. Nothing could be permitted to stand in the way of her goals.

Nothing.

"HAAAGH!"

Screaming in fierce defiance of the hellionized humans before him, Sorey abruptly lunged back in a roll, the fists of the hellion pushing down upon him slamming straight into the ground where he had knelt. Heaving for breath, the Shepherd didn't waste time, instead flipping his sword around in his hands and sheathing it. He didn't stand a chance against so many hellions in his current state, and he knew it.

And so, the savior of the world turned tail and ran away as fast as he could.

Everything had become a nightmare. Sorey gasped raggedly for breath with his limbs screaming for him to stop as he pelted through the battlefield, desperately weaving between the hordes of hellions rushing towards him. Gauntleted hands with inhuman strength clutched at him at every turn. Bestial snarls thrummed from the throats of seemingly normal men to his non-resonant eyes. For without his seraphim, Sorey was utterly, completely, helpless.

The crushing realization was as unwelcome as the sensation itself.

He yelled in fury at his own helplessness. He ran for as long as he could before he was forced to dive to the side as three hellions lunged at him at once. He scrambled to his hands and knees, forcing himself onto his feet as the monsters turned to fight each other over who would be the first to claim this prey.

Terror had seeped into his very core. The helplessness… the insecurity… the fear. There was nothing he could do but run.

He skidded to a halt, cursing as a former squad of Hyland soldiers lumbered towards him, their arms outstretched. He turned around to run only to hurriedly jump back in a dodge as an errant Rolance soldier leapt at him. He landed haphazardly on his back, his Shepherd's cloak being torn up by the gravel and debris on the ground in the process.

Cursing, Sorey found his feet and kicked, just barely managing to slip through the closing grasp of a soldier attempting to grab his ankle. He couldn't help but let out a breath of sheer terror at how close he had come to dying as he took off running once more, the wind whistling in his ears.

There was no plan. There was no end destination.

Only the animal instinct to run; run as far away as he could from the monsters chasing after him.

So therefore, it was only a matter of time before he was cornered like the prey he was.

He suddenly skidded to a halt with a yelp, belatedly registering the gaping cliff at his feet. Dislodged pebbles tumbled down into the vast abyss. He couldn't see the bottom at all, the cliff face stretching for over a dozen stories. A dead end.

An abrupt chorus of snarling from behind caused him to groan in dismay. He turned reluctantly to face the vast swarm of hellions as they slowly stalked towards him, completely and effectively blocking any possible avenue of escape.

Sorey wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with a grim expression. "I guess this is it for me." He gasped under his breath as his death loomed before him. He swore, gritting his teeth in frustration. "…Sorry, everyone. I guess I'm just not strong enough."

Slowly, he reached down with his right hand and grasped his sword pommel, sliding his ceremonial sword out of its sheath with a soft squeal of metal on metal. He held it up high in the air, also holding up his other arm and idly observing the Shepherd's glove on his left hand.

"…But I won't go down without a fight."

Slowly, he let his gaze fall upon the dozens of hellions lumbering towards him. His fist curled around the ceremonial sword in his hand. "That's a promise." he breathed to himself, steeling his nerves.

He sliced his sword determinedly through the air, standing up straight and proud as the monsters neared. "Come on!" he yelled defiantly in the face of certain doom. On his back, the Shepherd's cloak rippled in the wake of an errant gust of dry wind, framing the Shepherd Sorey in his final moments as a hero, bravely facing his demise. Alone, powerless and hopeless, but nevertheless possessing a spark of true determination.

A spark that ignited a flame, showing that he was truly alive.

For this particular human would not fall prey to despair quite as easily as the rest.

Watching the scene from atop the jutting canyon cliffs above, Velvet's lips thinned with satisfaction. "…You passed the test." she muttered under her breath with marked satisfaction.

There was no longer any doubt. This Shepherd would truly do nicely as her tool. One that would very much be immune to the threat of malevolence, even in the darkest of times.

Before she could move to intervene however, something suddenly leapt through the air over the heads of the hellions towards the Shepherd. A hooded assassin clad in brown fatigues and wearing a jagged mask on their face, slid to a stop alongside Sorey with a dagger in each hand.

"Damnit!" the assassin swore from behind the mask. "Why are you all acting like this?!" they demanded. They received only feral snarls from the possessed men in return.

Sorey's eyes were wide in astonishment. "You're that assassin from the Scattered Bones who's been following us!" he exclaimed.

The assassin in question glanced at the Shepherd briefly before turning back to the horde of assailants before them. "…At the bottom of the ravine behind us is a river, deep enough to stop our fall." The masked figure quickly explained under their breath. "When I tell you to, turn around and jump."

Sorey blinked. "…Why are you doing this?" he breathed.

"Not now!" the assassin hissed. "Ready?"

Sorey nodded sharply, bringing his gaze determinedly at the hellions before him. "…Ready."

As one, the hellions broke into a mad charge, howling and snarling as they stumbled towards the two humans.

"NOW!"

Both of them instantly turned tail and leapt off the cliff before the rabid humans could fall upon them. Yet before they managed to clear the cliff, one of the armed hellions managed to toss a spear across the gap, striking the assassin right in the leg as the pair of humans tumbled down into the void.

Velvet watched as they disappeared down into the ravine, slowly forcing her muscles to relax. She let out a terse breath, watching as the horde of hellions grounded to a halt at the mouth of the ravine, seething at the fact that their prey had escaped them.

Despite the unexpected turn of events, it appeared that the Shepherd was now out of harm's way.

Her eyes narrowed as she spotted an inhumanly tall lion-headed man slowly stomping through the horde of hellions, all of which gave him a wide berth, before coming to a stop at the cliff's edge.

Heldalf let out a breath as he gazed down the cliff's edge off which the Shepherd had managed to escape. He chuckled lowly to himself, satisfied. "…A Shepherd of magnificent resilience." he contemplated aloud. "Intriguing."

Amidst his musing, Heldalf took a moment to examine the paw he'd used to catch the Shepherd's armatized longsword. The boy had been a bit stronger than his naïve appearance had led the Lord of Calamity to believe. The light sting he was feeling from having grabbed that flaming blade showed that much.

Not that it had made any real difference.

He blinked as he felt something strange shift within the core of his domain. He turned around slowly towards the source; curiosity evident in his expression.

A lone woman clad in tattered black and red strolled towards the horde of hellions surrounding him, her eyes ablaze with rage.

Heldalf let out a low rumble as he took in the presence of this newcomer with interest. All around him, the horde of hellions began to shift, lumbering towards a new potential victim in their midst.

The woman didn't spare them a glance, continuing to walk forward and staring him down with pure, unadulterated hatred.

When the closest of the lizard hellions abruptly lunged forward in an attempt to grab her by the neck, her left arm violently erupted in malevolence.

Heldalf watched with a tilted head as the hellionized woman before him effortlessly swiped the insignificant lizard monster away as one would an irritating fly without even breaking stride. Her victim was cast bodily through the air with incomprehensible force, slamming into a rocky outcropping and splattering in a noisy squelch of blood and gore.

A massive pulsating claw, dripping with partially absorbed blood and malevolence gouged from its last victim, hung from the frame the inhuman woman stalking towards him. When the bulk of the hellions, riled by the smell of blood in the air, charged in to attack her all at once, she opened her mouth and let out a feral scream.

"DISCORD!"

Every single hellion that crossed her path was rendered into bits of blood and gore as a serrated claw ripped straight through them with such force that it gouged trails into the very earth they stood upon.

The enraged woman charged into the fray alone with all the self-control of a predator that had been starved to the brink of death only to have suddenly stumbled upon a feast. She tore into her foes with a mesmerizing mixture of graceful swordplay, ragged acrobatics, and brutal inhuman might.

A true embodiment of unadulterated savagery and ferocity.

Her sweepingly long raven hair whipped around with every move she made, increasingly being stained by the blood she was drawing with each strike. Her claw flourished as she feasted upon those she grasped, encasing their helpless forms in her crushing grip before devouring them in explosions of blood and malevolence. Her expression was the very picture of fury as she either cut down or crushed all those that dared get in her way.

Absolutely no thought was given to herself as she ran berserk amongst them all. Splatters of blood dotted her ragged clothing in addition to her own exposed skin. Any grazing blows that her enemies managed to land on her were ignored completely, her own blood from the gashes mixing with the stains on her skin as she retaliated against each blow mercilessly, always lethally and with no less than ten times the force.

It wasn't long before the horde of lizard hellions came to truly realize the sheer brutality and efficiency through which their numbers were being culled. Broken swords and shattered shields dropped to the ground, forgotten, as the monsters began to flee in terror in all directions away from the terrifying woman like rats on a sinking ship. The squealing cries of fear of the insignificant hellions filled the air as they ran, stumbling over themselves in an effort to save themselves from the unstoppable incarnation of wrath that they had foolishly challenged.

Heaving for breath, the woman slowly came to a halt, surrounded by nothing more than upset dirt and malevolence. Rising and falling with the heaving of her chest, the hellionized claw held limply before her pulsated greedily as it absorbed the remaining drops of blood still staining its surface. Her head slowly lifted in the aftermath of the slaughter, the bloodied chains on her outfit clinking softly in the silence that had fallen.

Her rage-filled eyes met Heldalf's once more.

Suddenly, an explosion of malevolence erupted from her being in fierce waves. Heldalf's eyes widened and he took an involuntary step back as a massive, vast domain violently erupted directly in the midst of his own, the thick malevolence blasting out throughout the now-desolate battlefield.

Her domain clashed harshly against his, causing a visible rip in the very world to form in the skies where they met. Thunderous crashing echoed deafeningly throughout the world as the two domains struggled against each other, pushing back and forth in the sky. The very earth shook violently as the two chaotic forces butted against one another, causing fissures to erupt spontaneously across the now-abandoned battlefield.

Setting his gaze on the woman before him, Heldalf let out a low hum of undisguised interest.

"…A domain to rival my very own." he noted. The screaming gales all around whipped his cloak and mane in the air as he crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Now who… might you be?"

Had any seraphim been in the vicinity of the basin at all, they would've stood no chance against the untamed ferocity of the evil exhibited by two of the most corrupted beings in the world. This was where both of them belonged.

Standing in the center of the physical embodiment of their own sins.

Velvet's eyes narrowed as she stood her ground, her own black cloak whipping around in the wind alongside her hair. Between her and Heldalf, their domains continued to struggle against the other's in a visible, volatile jagged line of clashing malevolence. She scowled hatefully. This was him. The Lord of Calamity.

The one who had Laphicet…!

She took a deep breath, reigning herself in. This was not the plan. No, to save Maotelus, the only way forward necessitated the wielding of a sword of reason and will.

"…I can't let you kill that one yet." Her voice, low and threatening, carried clearly across the forces of her domain. Her eyes dilated and pulsed blood red. "Stay out of my business." she snarled.

And with that having been said, she turned on her heel and stalked away, her coat and her hair whipping about in the volatile gales.

Heldalf watched as the strange woman departed, her domain slowly fading from existence as well, subsequently freeing the world around him from the surging chaos that had been caused by the conflicting domains. At his feet laid dozens of corpses, all rotting in the wind. Human corpses, with their malevolence having been simultaneously leeched out of them along with their lives.

His eyes narrowed as he considered her, his mind whirling with the implications. "…An arm of crimson death." he muttered contemplatively under his breath.

He blinked.

Suddenly, a savage grin emerged on his face.

"Ah…" he exhaled breathily. "…You."

The tall lion-maned Lord of Calamity abruptly burst into gruff laughter, turning away and back towards where the Shepherd had disappeared. His grin widened as he crossed his arms, relishing the unnatural breeze induced by his domain.

How he would enjoy this.

Overhead, the dark clouds continued to churn. Malevolence continued to hang over the utterly desecrated battlefield in the wake of the devastation that had occurred. A clash between humans, monsters, and sprits. One borne of duty, honor, desire, and hatred.

The vultures finally began to descend in great numbers, gleefully cawing their joy into the empty wind as they eagerly began to partake in a grand feast of rancid flesh.

---​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 13 – Rose.

Sorey's boots crackled noisily on river rocks as he forced himself onto his feet, wincing from the countless aches and bruises flaring in protest to the harsh movement of his body. He forced himself to forge onward into the shallow waters, letting out an involuntary hiss as the ice-cold river waters lapped at his waist.

"Come on!" he grunted through gritted teeth, stumbling towards the humanoid brown and black lump lying partially submerged in the water near the riverbank with something long and wooden protruding out of it. His breath misted in the cold night air as he panted, arduously tugging the unconscious body of the assassin through the water and back towards dry land.

With the last vestiges of his strength, Sorey managed to heave the Scattered Bones assassin onto the lush grass growing by the riverside, soaking wet. He let out a groan, collapsing onto his back beside their body in utter exhaustion and fatigue. His breathing ragged, he kept his eyes open by staring up into the night sky high above.

It was heavily obscured by the expansive network of leaves and branches of enormous oak trees standing vigil all around him. The canopy of the peculiar forest he was in was so high and thick that the entire area felt akin to an enormous cavern, supported by thick pillars of aged wood trunks. As his noisy breathing calmed, he slowly became aware of the other sounds filling the quite night. The crisp, flowing murmur of leaves waving in the night breeze. The babbling of the now calm river slowly lapping against a rocky shore. The parliament of owls hooting distantly into the chilly air.

In the wake of the chaos that he had been embroiled in for the past day, the tranquility of the area seemed almost surreal. Feeling his mind lethargically reorienting itself in the wake of it all, Sorey slowly sat up and turned his full attention to the wounded person lying at his side.

He froze in shock.

Rose, the leader of the Sparrowfeather Merchants, laid before him unconscious, clothed in the dark, foreboding garb of a killer. Her mask had evidently fallen off of her face during the fall.

After a moment's pause, Sorey directed his attention from her face to her wound. The thrown spear had managed to lodge itself partially in the woman's flesh and partially in her padded clothing, which was thicker than it looked. Thankfully, the wound didn't seem to be so deep that it would prove life-threatening. If treated soon.

He glanced over his shoulder. "Mikleo?" he called out. His only response was the quiet groaning of wood in the cavernous forest.

Sorey gritted his teeth. "That man. Just what did he do to me…?" Brief moments of his helplessness flashed before his eyes, reminding him keenly of how weak he had been. His fists clenched. His gaze eventually came to rest once more upon the fresh wound on the assassin's leg.

Determination steeling his features, Sorey settled down cross-legged beside the woman's injured leg and reached for his medical supplies. Time flowed along with the river he sat beside as he tended to the assassin's wound. Idly, he registered the chirping of birds and the brightening of the world as the sun began to rise somewhere beyond the canopy of the vast, looming trees. His stomach growled while his throat screamed for water. His own body ached fiercely all over alongside the dozens of minor injuries dotting his skin under his ripped clothing. Eventually he sat back with a relieved sigh, carefully observing his handiwork.

The bloodied spear had long since been tossed aside, whereas the puncture wound it had caused had only now been effectively treated with the bleeding having been fully stifled. He glanced around, only now fully registering that the sun had long since risen, its rays threading through the leaves above to carpet the empty forest floor around him with brilliant dotted patterns.

On cue, his stomach let out an angry growl, causing him to wince. "…We gotta get out of here." he decided under his breath.

After a moment's hesitation, he bent down and, minding her injured leg, hoisted the assassin up on his back. Acclimating himself to the added weight, the Shepherd randomly chose a direction and set off through the quiet forest, surrounded by nothing but the ambiance of the forest with only his own thoughts to keep him company.

He thought about what had happened. His effort in the war to support Hyland. His failure in confronting the horrid Lord of Calamity. Him losing his powers as the Shepherd along with his ability to perceive seraphim. All of it. Ever since he had left Elysia, there had scarcely been a time when the Shepherd hadn't had his friends by his side, now that he thought about it. It had been a constant reassurance, knowing that his seraphic allies were always there, watching over him with every step he took in this vast, unknown world.

In the end, he supposed it shouldn't've been such a surprise that he would be so weak by himself. He furrowed his brow as he stared down at the ground, watching his two feet make progress little by little.

A groan from over his shoulder caused him to stop in his tracks. "…Hey." Sorey greeted gently as he turned his head towards the redheaded woman on his back. "You awake?"

Her blue eyes blinked blearily back at him, slowly taking in her surroundings. All around them, birds continued to chirp lightly amongst the trees. "So." Sorey prompted conversationally. "You're the leader of that assassin's group."

"Mm…" The assassin let out a quiet yawn in response. "…Surprised?"

"Well… sure." He paused. "What should I call you?"

"Rose will do just fine." She shifted slightly on his back, rolling her shoulders tiredly. "And hey…" She inclined her head towards her bandaged left leg, her eyebrow raised. "Why didn't you just leave me behind?"

"You saved me. It's only fair to return the favor." Sorey reasoned. "Who you are or what you do doesn't change that." He tilted his head curiously. "…But what I don't get is what someone like you was doing there rescuing me in the first place."

"I don't know." Rose admitted tiredly. "I'll have to decide later if it was really the right decision." She let her heavy eyelids slide shut before opening them again. "…But I can tell you're a good person." she breathed.

Sorey tilted his head curiously.

Suddenly, the assassin on his back went rigid. "We're being followed." she announced lowly. Observing her surroundings, Rose nodded to herself. "…Let's head north." she suggested. "There's a ruin off that way that we're currently using as a hideout."

"Got it." he acknowledged. "Want me to set you down?"

"I'm good." she declined graciously, slumping forward. "This'll give 'em a false sense of security."

Sorey winced tiredly. "R…right." he mumbled, resuming his steps forward.

"…By the way, did those signatures end up helping you out at all?"

"Huh?" Sorey turned his head over his shoulder towards Rose, who was still playing unconscious slumped over on his back as he walked, before finally recalling what she was talking about. "…Oh! They actually did." he answered, thinking back to the document that had given him leverage over Landon back on the battlefield. "Thanks again for doing that for me back there."

"Ah, it was nothing." Rose replied easily with her eyes closed. "Anything to stick it to that lousy general." She shifted subtly in his grip, readjusting her arms dangling around his neck. "Forcing you into the war like that was a real jerk move." she grumbled.

Sorey couldn't help but chuckle at that. "I can't disagree there." He tilted his head. "But what were you doing on that battlefield?"

"Just gathering information." She shifted on his back. "I was surprised to not see that friend of yours with you back there. Her name was… Velvet, right?"

He nodded. "She and I split up for a time." he explained. "She said she'd find me later on after she was done with something."

"Then it's a good thing she left when she did." Rose noted soberly. "I'm still not entirely sure what the heck was going on back in that basin, but whatever it was, it wasn't good." she sighed. "…Just when you think you've seen it all." she muttered.

Sorey was silent at that.

Once more, the two were surrounded by the sounds of the forest in addition to the rhythmic crunching of Sorey's boots on grass. Eventually, the two of them came upon a well-aged clump of ruined stone nestled between the huge root of a particularly large oak tree.

"B… Boss?!"

Sorey blinked and watched as masked people wearing black and brown materialized from out of nowhere before him, dropping down from hidden perches to gather before him and Rose. He watched as the assassins all took their masks off, revealing a varied cast of faces he recognized from his various run-ins with the Sparrowfeather Merchants.

"The Shepherd?" The merchant Eguille's eyebrows were raised as he slid the mask from his face, stepping to the forefront of the assassins. His eyes narrowed as his gaze fell on the bandage around Rose's leg.

With a spontaneous burst of energy, Rose slid lithely out of Sorey's grasp and trotted over, gingerly testing her injured leg before falling into a mostly regular stride. "We were followed, so I led 'em here." She jerked her head over her shoulder. "Now comes the fun part."

Without question, the other assassins quickly followed her orders, dashing off into the wilderness in the indicated direction.

Sorey's eyes were hard as he turned to Rose. "…You're going to kill them?" he breathed.

Rose shrugged. "Depends." she replied ambiguously. She turned instead to face one of the other assassins as he approached. "I'm alright, Eguille. Don't sweat it." she stressed, stopping him from saying anything.

The tall man closed his mouth and shook his head with a wry, exasperated expression. "…You know your limits." he conceded. "Go on, then."

Rose nodded seriously. With that, she whirled around and burst into motion, dashing off in pursuit of the other assassins.

"Hey-!" Sorey quickly turned to follow, only to be stopped by Eguille stepping in front of him. "…Let me through." he demanded.

Eguille gave him a stern look. "And let you do what, exactly?" he asked, crossing his arms. "Get in the way as you try to stop killers from killing?" All around them, the remaining assassins staying at the hideout continued to watch the Shepherd guardedly.

Sorey gritted his teeth, wrapping his hand around the pommel of this blade.

"Move, Eguille." he stressed lowly. "Please." Slowly, his tired muscles clenched in clear preparation for a fight.

Eguille carefully considered the Shepherd's determined expression. All around him the dozen assassins surrounding the Shepherd began to tense as well, reaching for their sheathed daggers and dirks. A thick silence fell in the wake of his demand; an unmistakable prelude to conflict.

"…Alright." Evidently reaching a decision, Eguille abruptly stepped smoothly to the side, wordlessly letting the Shepherd through.

Sorey gave him a nod of appreciation, letting his hand fall from his sword. "Thanks."

And with that, he burst into a run, sprinting away from the ruins and towards where Rose and the other assassins had gone. Eguille watched as the Shepherd disappeared into the forest, a thoughtful glint in his eyes.

---​

"Aaaaah!"

A terrified, youthful screech echoed throughout the forest, followed by similar scattered screams as the Scattered Bones simultaneously fell upon the intruders in their territory. Metal knives and daggers screeched as they were ripped from their sheaths, their jagged points coming to a halt millimeters away from each intruder's neck and forcing all of them to freeze in mortal terror.

Couched upon a thick root jutting out from the ground giving him a vantage point overseeing the meadow below, Sorey watched on motionlessly as the remaining children were efficiently rounded up and gathered at the base of an aged tree stump by the assassins. He watched on as the leader of the Scattered Bones stepped forward, spinning her right knife casually in her gloved hands.

Rose came to a halt, running her eyes over the terrified faces of the children with an unreadable expression. She held the eyes of each child for a split second, her own eyes piercing each and every one. Her gaze eventually came to halt upon the oldest of the group; a young man who had only barely begun to grow facial hair glaring back up at her in stubborn defiance.

The dagger spinning in her hand came to a swift halt as she lunged.

"GAAAAHH!"

The boy leader screamed as he fell to the ground, all pretenses of bravado shattered in an instant as two razor-sharp blades crossed in front of his neck, the cold kiss of metal shocking his hot flesh as his jugular rose and fell with his panicked breathing. Kneeling atop the boy with one knee pushing directly into his gut, Rose leaned down inches towards the leader.

"You're not too good at this, huh?" she asked casually.

The boy blinked rapidly. "Hu… Huh?" he stammered. "What do you…?"

Rose straightened her back, still effortlessly holding her blades at his neck. "Well, if you wanna be the head of a group of killers, you gotta do it right." she reasoned. "A leader needs to have a backbone. You can't just bend and break at the first sign of danger, you know? You lose your own nerve, and so does everyone else in the gang." Her eyes narrowed.

"Then again, I suppose slaughtering tired soldiers in their sleep doesn't really give you all that much of a challenge, does it?" she mused.

All around them, the group of roughly a dozen children held hostage shifted nervously as one. The masked assassins holding them hostage stood quietly behind them all; terrifying embodiments of real-life reapers that had finally come to deal justice for the crimes they had committed.

The breathing of their leader, still at Rose's mercy, grew even more ragged. "We… we didn't have a choice…!" he pleaded weakly. "We were going to starve… what were we to do?" When her merciless gaze didn't change, he squeezed his eyes shut, turning away from her blades.

"…I'm… I'm s-s-sorry!" he whimpered, tears leaking down his cheeks. "I know… I know we d-did a… b-bad thing…!" he stammered.

"I… I d-don't wanna d-die!" he cried.

Rose sighed, glancing briefly up with hard eyes at the other children surrounding her. Some were shaking uncontrollably on the spot, while others were crying just like their leader. They were all just a bunch of desperate little kids.

Making her decision, Rose gestured with her head. Just as quickly as they had drawn them, the knives of the surrounding Scattered Bones assassins were sheathed as they all simultaneously took a step back away from the children they had been holding hostage. Their leader hiccupped in confusion as Rose stood, gasping for breath as her knee left his stomach.

He jumped in terror and surprise as something heavy landed on his stomach again, only to blink in confusion as he felt the ragged texture of a pouch of gald in his hands.

Rose gave the kid down at her feet a dangerous smile, resting her left dagger on her hip while letting the other dangle at her side. "If I hear word of any of you hunting soldiers again, you won't get off so easily next time, I promise." She violently tossed the dagger in her right hand high in the air, keeping her eyes on the leader, only to catch it easily without sparing it a glance in a clear display of prowess.

"Well go on, skedaddle!"

She didn't need to tell them twice. Gasping and grunting, the group of kids scrambled onto their feet with shaky limbs, haphazardly following their leader as they bolted off into the forest. Rose gave a sigh as they ran off, absently twirling the daggers in her hands before sheathing them behind her back.

"Make sure they don't double back on us." she gestured, having the majority of the assassins nearby run off after the children. "What a stupid mess." she muttered as they did what she'd told them to do.

The sound of approaching footsteps drew her gaze. "…You know, I was honestly expecting you to try and stop us." Rose remarked, turning to face the Shepherd as he slowly came to a halt in front of her and the remaining assassins. "So color me surprised."

"Well… I didn't see the need to." Sorey confessed honestly. "I had a feeling you weren't going to hurt them."

One of the assassins standing nearby removed the mask from his face, revealing a youthful redheaded young man with a curious expression. "How could you have possibly known that?" he asked Sorey. "We're assassins."

"I know that." he agreed. "And I still personally don't believe that killing is the right answer for anything. But…"

Rose tilted her head curiously. "'But…?'"

Sorey met her gaze. "I've come to understand the reality that not everyone who kills is necessarily a bad person." He reached up and scratched his hair. "And that's why I figured you guys wouldn't kill those kids; because you all aren't evil people. It was just that simple, I guess." Silence fell in the wake of his words, filled by the chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves.

"Hahaha!" Rose abruptly burst into incredulous laughter. "You're a real nutcase Sorey, you know that?" she snickered, rubbing her temple with her right hand.

Sorey blinked in surprise. "Really?"

The redhead who had spoken before chuckled, crossing his arms. "He's something else alright. I see what you were talking about, Boss."

At the redhead's side, another assassin took her mask off, revealing a feminine face with strikingly similar features. "Contrary to everything I've heard about him, he's surprisingly level-headed." she noted.

A man with a black-haired ponytail placed his own mask inside his pack behind him as he stepped forward. "What really impressed me was how well he handled Hyland's coercion of him into the war." He nodded towards Rose. "Quite the insight, him asking for you as a witness to his deal with the general."

Rose put a hand on her hip, glancing at Sorey's sheepish expression. "He worked wonders on the actual battlefield, too." she pointed out. "I didn't hang around too long to see, but it looked like both sides had come to a complete standstill after his appearance. And it didn't look like he hurt anybody too badly; he was just trying to scare the Empire off."

The male twin nodded deeply. "He wasn't lying when he said he doesn't believe in killing, then."

Standing beside him, his sister crossed her arms in agreement. "That speaks much about his character, at least."

Sorey scratched his cheek shyly. "Uh, you guys? I'm standing right here."

"We know." Rose chirped, turning to him. "We're just sharing thoughts to see whether or not you're a bad person. Oh, and by the way…" She stepped forward, steel suddenly lacing her voice as she declared, "If the Shepherd turns out to be a force for evil that leads people astray… We won't hesitate to kill you." she promised. "Keep that in mind."

Sorey blinked.

"Ah, so that's why you've been following me all this time ever since Ladylake." he concluded. "That's one more mystery solved, then." he summarized happily.

Rose gave him an incredulous look. "…That's your reaction to a death threat?"

"Haha, I'm sorry." Sorey grinned apologetically, running his gloved hand through his hair. "I figure if I get to a point where you people want to kill me, well." He shrugged. "I'll probably deserve it then."

Behind him, the female twin shook her head. "…I suppose it's fair to say at the moment, you're not one of those who deserves to taste our blade." She abruptly stepped forward, offering a gloved hand to the Shepherd. "My name's Felice." she introduced herself with a gentle smile. "Thanks for saving our Boss back there."

"Hey!" Rose pouted. "I would've been fine without his help, thank you very much!"

As Sorey took Felice's hand and shook it, her redheaded twin stepped up beside her and did the same. "And I'm Talfryn. In case you couldn't tell, Felice and I are twins."

"Rosh." Behind Talfryn, the other black-haired assassin inclined his head, keeping his arms crossed. "Pleasure to meet you in person, Shepherd."

Sorey nodded to each assassin in turn. "It's good to finally see your guys' faces." he returned respectfully.

Suddenly, a black and brown blur dropped seemingly out of nowhere to land before them all, causing Sorey to jolt in surprise. Rose didn't miss a beat, turning to face the newcomer assassin as he stood up from his landing. "Eguille?" she prompted.

"The band of children have cleared the general area surrounding the hideout." The man reported gruffly, crossing his arms. "It would be best, however, to do a thorough sweep of the area, just to confirm we haven't missed any stragglers. I already have the rest of squad two inspecting the far reaches of the forest."

Rosh nodded and stepped forward, taking the initiative. "Then Talfryn, Felice and I will skulk around the area nearest to the hideout."

"That would be best." At Eguille's nod, the three of them swiftly turned on their feet and dashed off in different directions. Meanwhile, the man turned his gaze towards Rose and Sorey. "As for you two, go back to the hideout." he told them sternly. "Drink lots of water. Rest up."

"No complaints here." Rose agreed wholeheartedly, breaking out into a tired yawn and stretching her limbs like a cat. "Yeesh. I'm totally pooped!"

Sorey grinned weakly. "Me too. Carrying you for that long was seriously harder than I had thought it would be." He winced, rolling his sore shoulders. "Whew!" he breathed.

"…Hey." Rose gave him a grouchy glare. "That's a little rude of you, don't you think?" she grumbled.

She froze suddenly, turning her head off to the side.

Eguille gave her a once-over with a sharp eye. "…What's wrong?" he asked seriously, looking in the direction that Rose was staring at. To his eyes, there was nothing but gently waving oak trees and foliage that could be seen in the distance.

Rose abruptly shrugged, turning to face him with an easy smile. "False alarm. Just some wild animal." she dismissed, turning to Sorey. "C'mon, let's get going!"

"Sure." Sorey agreed.

Together, they headed out; a Shepherd and a lead assassin, brought together through random chance.

---​

Rose yawned once more, stretching her arms as she and Sorey trotted through the scattered ruins at the base of the tree to arrive at an inconspicuous opening in the ground with an iron ladder pinned to the top. "Whew! I'd say that's enough for one day." She turned to face Sorey cheerily. "There's a bed down in the back. Use it whenever you want. Ask around if you need anything else."

"Thanks, Rose." Sorey returned gratefully.

When it became evident that she wasn't following him inside, he tilted his head curiously. "What will you do? You're still hurt, aren't you?" he nodded at the young woman's bandaged leg in concern.

"Trust me, I'll be fine!" Rose waved his concern off easily. "I just gotta deal with a few more things before I can really rest up." She put both hands on her hips. "Go on, get inside, Shepherd!" She waved her hand urgently towards the opening.

Nodding, Sorey went on ahead, leaving Rose alone amidst the entrance to the ruins. The leader of the Scattered Bones sighed, casually stretching her arms.

"…You're pretty good at this, you know that?" She complemented, apparently speaking to nobody.

She turned cheerily to face the raven-haired woman named Velvet appearing out of nowhere as the woman landed smoothly some distance away from her amidst the ruins with one knee in the grass.

"Even Eguille didn't notice!" Rose continued. "And he's been in this business way longer than me."

Velvet stood up in one smooth motion, strolling casually towards the assassin. "What can I say?" she asked, waving a lofty hand. "I've had a plenty of practice."

"No kidding." Rose hummed amicably, putting a hand on her hip.

As the other woman came to a halt before her, the leader of the Scattered Bones raised an eyebrow expectantly. "So. What's the actual deal between you and Sorey?" she prompted. Despite her lofty tone, Velvet could clearly tell based on the subtle cues of her body that Rose was keenly evaluating just how much of a threat she was.

"I could ask you the same." The therion put a hand on her own hip, mirroring Rose's stance. "Why go through all this effort to see if Sorey meets your standards for a Shepherd?" she asked. "Seems a bit unorthodox for assassins to freely choose whom they kill."

"Not all assassins are the same, silly." Rose berated with a grin. "It's just the job of the Scattered Bones to kill those who deserve it, and that's that."

"A virtuous assassin's guild?" Velvet raised an eyebrow incredulously. "An oxymoron if there ever was one."

Rose frowned. "Hey, we're not just that. Don't forget, us Sparrowfeathers are pretty kickass merchants, too." She put both hands on her hips happily. "As you can tell, I'm kinda proud of this little operation I've got going on here, and I'm not afraid to admit it!"

Velvet let out an amused huff. "I can see why they all follow you." she remarked, shifting on her feet. "You're not someone who shies away from getting things done, are you?"

"Darn straight I'm not!" Rose chirped happily. "I'm a no-nonsense sorta gal, through and through, no matter the odds!"

The therion couldn't help but be amused at her choice of words. "…I suppose you could say you and I have that in common." Velvet waved a hand loftily. "Between you and me, I'm pretty sure the world could use some more people who just do what they want to do."

"Ugh. Tell me about it." the assassin moaned, rubbing her head in irritation. "The worst offenders are those politicians in Rolance and Hyland, if you ask me. Or maybe it's just politicians in general. That's a big part of why I have this whole side gig going on in the first place." she grumbled. "They just piss me off, going on and on in circles to no end!"

"It really is a broken system." Velvet agreed. "And when the system can't fix itself, you take matters into your own hands. Am I wrong?"

"That's what we do. We're sorta like family in how we all care for each other and how we all just want to get things done." Rose remarked fondly.

Velvet tilted her head. "What's the next move for you and your guild, then? Now that the war's been halted for the time being."

The redhead cupped her chin thoughtfully. "…You know what? I haven't thought that far ahead yet." She laughed self-deprecatingly. "Sometimes you gotta just let these things happen and see where you end up. Wind in your sails, or something like that."

"Right…"

Velvet shook her head, letting her hand fall from her hip. "In any case, I'll be going on ahead." It was a statement rather than a request, and both of them knew it.

Rose hummed quietly, shifting on her feet and carefully examining the other woman. A light breeze picked up, causing the sea of leaves high above their heads to wave and ripple. Dry leaves pattered noisily on the floor around them, punctuating the silence.

Abruptly, Rose opened her mouth.

"Well there's plenty of room to go around." she chirped brightly. "Feel free to ask Felice for anything you need in terms of food and water. She knows the hideout like the back of her hand!"

Velvet nodded. With permission having been granted, the therion strolled past the assassin, stopping at the edge of the hole leading down into the hideout. Quietly, she glanced over her shoulder. "…Thank you, by the way." she muttered softly. "For saving Sorey from that battlefield."

Rose blinked, whirling around in surprise. "Hold up. You were there too?!" she asked with wide eyes. "Why didn't you…?"

Velvet just sighed, waving off her questions. "…I can't have my tools breaking on me." she stated simply.

Rose watched as the enigmatic woman turned and leapt down into the hideout with a hard and serious expression. "Velvet Davidson, huh?" she asked no one, shifting on her feet.

"…Just who the heck are you?"

All around her, the leaves continued to fall.

---​

"…Damnit, Sorey." Mikleo muttered under his breath, his boots squeaking quietly on the stone floor as he paced back and forth in front of Sorey's bed for the umpteenth time.

Sitting primly on a neighboring bed, Edna sighed as she watched the water seraph send worried looks at the Shepherd every five seconds, as if afraid his friend would spontaneously vanish from sight in between glances. "If you keep this up," she pointed out dully, "the humans will be freaked out by the rut spontaneously digging itself into the floor."

On a dime, the water seraph whirled around. "Edna, aren't you worried in the slightest?!" Mikleo exclaimed. "What if Sorey stays like this?! What if Heldalf's suppression of his resonance lasts forever, and Sorey will never see any of us again? I don't know I'd to do if that were the case!"

Lailah trotted up, sending her own worried glance at the unconscious Shepherd before facing Mikleo placatingly. "Resonance is an inherent natural trait present in humans with varying degrees of acuteness. It is highly unlikely that that man with the lion's head was able to completely reshape the fabric of Sorey's being merely by focusing his domain onto him." she reasoned. "It was more of a… temporary hindering of sorts. I have absolute confidence that, given enough time to recover, his resonance will return in full."

Mikleo absorbed took the information in like a sponge to water. "…So that's what that man called Heldalf did to Sorey." His fist curled in fury as he glanced away. "Despicable." he growled. "Just as I'd expect of such a being known as the Lord of Calamity…"

"There does indeed appear to be little doubt as to the nature of the man we've met." Lailah nodded soberly. "He must be the one whom Sorey must ultimately seek to overcome in his path as the Shepherd." she concluded.

Edna kicked her feet idly in the air. "He's totally doomed."

Mikleo huffed haughtily. "…As much as I'd like to disagree with you there, I can't." he admitted reluctantly. "Had Heldalf really wanted to kill him back there, Sorey would've been totally helpless."

"You noticed that as well, then." Lailah observed softly.

"Of course." Mikleo sighed, turning away and resuming his pacing. "Anyone could've seen how that man toyed with Sorey back there, plain as day. He's far too powerful for us; there's just no other way to look at it." he growled. "…Bastard."

The clinking of metal on stone abruptly began to echo through the chamber, announcing the arrival of a human into the empty room within the underground ruins. As one, the seraphim all turned towards the only entrance to the chamber to examine the newcomer.

Mikleo halted, his eyes wide.

"…Velvet!"

The cloaked traveler strolled smoothly into the chamber, her eyes swiftly taking in all of the three seraphim surrounding the unconscious body of the Shepherd as she came to a halt before them, her hands on her hip. "You're all alright." she observed.

"Mostly." Edna corrected with a dry smirk. "Personally, I could do with a lot less worrying from worrywart Meebo here. Worrybo."

Mikleo's eye twitched. Taking a deep breath, he ignored Edna and instead implored, "How about you, Velvet? You left us in the middle of the battlefield!" He took a step forward incredulously. "How in the world did you manage to find us here?"

Velvet shifted on her feet, tilting her head simply. "I told you I'd find you, didn't I?" her eyes briefly met Lailah's. "I always do the things I say I'll do." The fire seraph's lips were drawn into a thin line as she stared back at Velvet, her eyes hard. Velvet blandly held her gaze, openly unaffected by her judgement.

Unaware of the palpable tension in the air, Mikleo held a hand over his mouth pensively as he considered her words. "…I take it the assassins got in touch with you?" he presumed.

"In a manner of speaking."

He nodded. "I see. But why…?"

"Ngh…"

All conversation was dropped immediately as those present turned to the Shepherd finally stirring from his deep sleep. Slowly, blearily, Sorey eased his eyes open, grunting as he slowly sat up in the bed.

"Sorey!" Mikleo was the first at his friend's side, easily placing his hands on the young man's back and helping him up. "Take it easy! You've been out for a while."

"Ngh… sure." Sorey grunted, steadying himself with the seraph's help as he rubbed his eyes.

He froze abruptly, before whirling around, his eyes wide. "Mikleo!" he exclaimed brightly as he finally registered his friend standing over him. His gaze wandered past the water seraph to the others. "Edna! Lailah! You're all here!"

"Well, duh." Edna tilted her head. "Where else could we have gone? You are our vessel, remember?"

Lailah chuckled, clapping both hands before her happily. "It would seem you can finally see us all again." she observed. "You have no idea how worried we were about you this whole time."

Sorey blinked a few times. "So you guys were all still with me this whole time?"

"Of course." Mikleo nodded, crossing his arms. "Once we had left the oppressive domain of the battlefield, we were able to keep watch over you as you helped that woman Rose. According to Lailah, you merely had your resonance temporarily suppressed for a while."

"…It was that man who did that to me, wasn't it?" Sorey's eyes fell, hardening. "…'Heldalf,' he called himself." His fists clenched over the bedsheets covering his body as they all nodded in confirmation.

"He was toying with me." he muttered lowly.

Lailah exchanged a quiet glance with the others before slowly bobbing her head. "That… did seem to be our conclusion as well." she confirmed reluctantly.

Sorey's teeth gritted.

"What's your next move, then?"

The Shepherd jolted, the anger fading from his expression as he recognized the familiar voice. He whirled around in his bed, his jaw falling slack as he found Velvet Davidson leaning casually against the wall some ways away from the others, her arms crossed and her eyebrow raised intuitively. "V… Velvet! You're here!" he exclaimed in surprise.

At her unaffected, pointed expression, Sorey found himself quickly thinking over her prior question. "…What my next move is, huh?" he echoed thoughtfully. Behind him, Lailah's lips pursed, her eyes leaping between the Shepherd and the therion.

Mikleo took the question similarly to heart. "Now that we've finally met the enemy face to face and have seen just how powerful his corruption truly is, it's hard to say what's the best choice of action for the Shepherd now." he ruminated.

Edna leaned back on her bed, causing it to creak subtly. "Isn't it obvious? Sorey needs to get a boatload of power if he wants even the slightest chance at beating 'Ol Kittybeard." she pointed out bluntly.

Sorey's frown deepened.

Lailah shifted on her feet, interlacing her hands together. "…Perhaps it would be best to leave such difficult questions for later." she suggested gently. "The answer will come to you, in time."

He nodded slowly, meeting Lailah's eyes gratefully. "Thanks Lailah." he smiled. "And that goes for all of you." he added softly, facing the seraphim. "It's really, really nice to see you all once more."

"Same goes for us." Mikleo smiled back, putting a hand on his hip. "It's good not to be ignored by my best friend all the time, at least."

Edna tilted her head idly, glancing away. "Seriously. I was getting tired of you crying and sniffling this entire time."

"…" Mikleo took a physical step back in shock before rallying valiantly. "…I did not cry!"

Leaning against the wall of the chamber a little way away from them all, Velvet huffed in idle amusement. She suddenly noticed movement in the corner of her eye and turned to look. Slowly, the Shepherd and his seraphim too registered the presence of a group of assassins staring at him.

Rose, Eguille, Rosh, Talfryn, and Felice were clumped together at the entrance to the chamber, staring at Sorey with varying degrees of curiosity, amusement, and incredulousness. At the front of the pack, Rose cleared her throat hesitantly, briefly glancing at Velvet leaning in the corner before returning her gaze upon Sorey who had been facing away from her.

"Are you… talking to yourself?" she raised an eyebrow.

"O-oh! I uh…" Sorey stammered as he stumbled haphazardly out of bed, running a hand through his frazzled hair. Eventually giving up and deciding to go with the truth, he grinned sheepishly and gestured to the seraphim to his left. "My friends are here with me!"

This only confused Rose more. She cocked her head in befuddlement. "Huh?"

Velvet watched in dry amusement as the Shepherd shuffled on his feet. "They're uh… seraphim."

Rose took an impassioned step forward, her expression full of concern. "Is this a bad time?" she asked gently. "Should we come back later?"

Velvet turned her head as one of the other assassins slowly edged her way over to her as the conversation progressed. "You're Velvet, right?" the redheaded twin whispered. At her confirming nod, Felice gestured worriedly over at the Shepherd. "Is he… alright? You know." She tapped her head. "In there?"

The disguised therion sighed, shaking her head. "…Not one bit, if you ask me." she muttered.

Felice didn't seem enlightened in the slightest. "I… see."

Their gazes were drawn to movement as Sorey slowly walked towards Rose with a welcoming expression, holding his hands out placatingly as if approaching a caged wild animal. They watched as Sorey slowly latched onto Rose's hand, to her astonishment.

"H-Hey?!" the assassin stammered wide-eyed.

Behind her, Eguille had a hand on his hip and a raised eyebrow as he watched on. Rosh and Talfryn exchanged expressions of utter bemusement as Rose began to sweat in Sorey's two-handed grasp.

Sorey's smile was benevolent. "Just try and focus, Rose. Close your eyes."

"Uh… ah…" Rose stammered, hesitantly playing along and closing her eyes shut as she concentrated to the best of her ability.

Velvet's eyebrow raised as Lailah walked up to her side and raised her hand hesitantly. "Is he… trying to bring out her resonance?" she muttered under her breath.

At her side, Felice furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

Lailah cleared her throat. "Oh, Rose? Can you hear-?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Rose's screech of pure terror pierced the air and was akin to a knife straight to Velvet's brain with her enhanced hearing. She and the other assassins watched on as Rose began to frantically jerk her hand up and down, trying desperately to escape Sorey's grasp.

Lailah's eyes were wide, her palms held together as she took in the assassin's reaction. "R-Rose, please just… calm down!" she tried to placate the hysterical woman.

Rose shook her head violently with a cry. "I'm not hearing this!" she denied vehemently. "Let me go! Lemme go, you idiot!" she howled.

"H-hey! Easy, Rose!" Sorey stammered.

"Rose! Please, listen!" Lailah tried again helplessly.

Suddenly, behind Sorey's back, Edna had an epiphany, evidenced by her plonking a fist in her palm. She lithely snuck past Sorey and Lailah to put her face perfectly positioned slightly behind Rose's right ear. "We're ghooooooooooooooooooooosts~" she cooed.

Sorey froze.

Velvet blinked.

Mikleo and Lailah exchanged wide-eyed glances.

Rose's scream of pure, unadulterated terror rattled the very foundation of the ruins as she instinctively jerked her free fist back and slammed a vicious left hook straight into Sorey's cheek.

CRASH!

Felice, Velvet, and the rest of the assassins watched, tilting their heads upwards as the Shepherd flew through the air in a gracious arc, his cloak twirling ridiculously behind him. His body slammed violently into the wall on the far opposite side of the chamber with an auditable crack.

Standing beside a heaving, terrified Rose, Edna idly examined the results of her ploy. "Uh oh." she said simply. Mikleo and Lailah gave her wide-eyed looks in response. For Sorey, the Shepherd, having finally woken up after much, much deserved rest, had been slammed straight back into unconsciousness.

With one final, shuddering cry, Rose whirled around and dashed past the rest of the assassins without another word.

By Velvet's side, Felice broke into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. "Oh, oh no." she covered her smile with a hand. "The Boss really can't handle stuff like that."

Velvet let out a breath of exasperation. "You don't say." She ran her eyes over the dazed expression of the Shepherd as he slowly tried to regain consciousness, the rest of the Seraphim surrounding him as the other assassins came over to help him out. She heaved a sigh, shaking her head in bemusement.

Tool or not, useful or not, there was no denying how much of a fool Sorey was.

---​

"…Man."

Sorey heaved a sigh, scratching his head as he tried to wrap his head around the current predicament, he and the others had inadvertently found themselves in. Here they were, in the heart of the ancient Tintagel Ruins that had served as the hideout for the Scattered Bones, exploring simply to take their minds off of what had happened regarding the Lord of Calamity.

That was what they had been doing, at least, until Rose – whom had inexplicably tagged along for their impromptu expedition into the unexplored portion of the ruins – had clumsily triggered a switch and consequently trapped them all inside a featureless stone chamber.

He scratched his head, walking around and staring at every square inch of the walls before him, finding absolutely nothing that could possibly let him and the others out of this chamber. "Some expedition this is turning out to be." he sighed.

Meanwhile, the rest of the seraphim were finding similar things to do to bide their time as Rose tried her best to free them from the outside. For what else could they do?

Edna was idly kicking around a clump of mossy rock that had been dislodged from the ceiling with her oversized boots. Mikleo was trying to beat Sorey in their little bet to find an exit to the chamber before the other and was having just as much success. Meanwhile, Lailah was simply sitting against one of the walls of the chamber, quietly running a comb through her long, flowing hair.

The fire seraph had a soft smile on her face as she watched Sorey and Mikleo once more start bickering across the chamber from her. Memories from times that had long since passed flashed before her eyes, all colored with different, separate hues from the emotions that she had associated with them. Happy, sad, and bittersweet memories; the prime lord cycled through them all.

It was important that she didn't linger in the past, however. This she had learned from experience.

CRASH!

"Hey! That sounded promising." Rose's voice echoed through the small peephole that looked into the chamber and resounded loudly throughout the enclosed space. "Sorey? Did that do anything?" she prompted.

The Shepherd glanced around before shaking his head. "It looks like we're still trapped. Keep looking, Rose." he urged.

The woman's grunt of frustration was plainly audible. "Why didn't the jerkheads who built this pile of stones leave behind a few legible pictograph instructions, color-code these levers, or for at least make this place in a way that actually made a lick of sense?" she demanded. "This is so stupid!"

Edna's eyes had been fixed upon the ceiling ever since the thunderous boom that had sounded out once Rose had done what she had done. "…Hellions." she announced blandly.

Sorey blinked, turning up towards where she was looking. "Huh?"

Right on cue, a horde of snake hellions tumbled from the stone trapdoor that had suddenly opened in the ceiling, raining down upon the unsuspecting Shepherd's group. Blurs of black and brown crashed onto the flat stone floor below, hissing in pain and anger, coiling aggressively in preparation for a battle.

Explosions and yells filled the chamber within seconds as the Shepherd's group scrambled to action, fending off the dozens of snake hellions threatening to overwhelm them all. Lailah was the most unprepared of all of them, hurriedly getting to her feet and dropping her comb onto the floor in the process. Seeing a trio of snakes rapidly approaching her, her first instinct was to take a step back and to initiate a close-range blast of flame. What she hadn't accounted for was the snake that had snuck up behind her.

"Rising Falcon!"

CRASH!

Lailah jerked to the side in surprise as a blur of black and crimson slammed into the stones directly behind her, accompanied by a loud grating squeal of a hellion being kicked across the chamber. Velvet's steel boots screeched as they quickly came to a stop on the surface, whereas the woman had already redirected her attention to the other hellions closing in on her and Lailah from all directions. "Focus!" she demanded without taking her eyes off the enemy.

The fire seraph shook her head once and did just that, turning away from the woman and completing her arte right in the nick of time.

BANG!

The trio of hellions attacking her were sent scurrying away with squeals of pain and their serpentine bodies fully ablaze for their efforts. Her eyes filled with determination befitting that of a wizened prime lord such as herself, Lailah took another step forward and gestured sharply with her hand. More explosions rang out in their immediate vicinity, sending the swarm of attacking snake hellions into chaos.

Meanwhile, Velvet's sword and boots whistled through the air as she danced around snarling hellions, retaliating with non-lethal strikes and rendering each of their attacks useless, ensuring both herself and Lailah were unharmed. The two women inadvertently bumped back-to-back, briefly isolated from the rest of the group amidst a sea of conflict. Velvet whirled around in a complete turn, slamming her boot into two hellions at once and sending them hurtling towards Mikleo and Edna who dealt with them accordingly. "If you've got something to say to me, say it now."

Lailah glanced briefly over her shoulder at the woman with an unreadable expression, absently gesturing in the air in an effort to formulate a new arte.

Her long hair slinging behind her, Velvet tore around and slammed the flat side of her gauntlet blade into a snake attempting to sink its fangs into the back of Lailah's neck and swept it clean away. She glanced at the fire seraph with a cold expression. "I told you right from the start what I want. Nothing's changed. Sorey is a pawn to me, and nothing more."

Lailah's eyes narrowed. "So it would seem…!" The fire seraph let out a fierce cry as she finalized her arte, directing her powers to a clump of hellions harrying Sorey and Mikleo across the chamber.

BANG!

The fire seraph, heaving for breath, sent Velvet a furious look. "Yet have you not a shred of compassion towards the innocent young man you are twisting so?!" she hissed. "Sorey has been nothing but open and welcoming to you. Surely you aren't so cold as to have not noticed this? Have you no feelings for the falsity and deceit that define your every waking moment in his company?!"

To her ever growing agitation, Velvet gave her an unaffected shrug in response.

"I'm sure he'll regret allowing me into the group once the truth inevitably comes out." she dismissed with a wave of her hand. The smirk that followed that statement was fanged. "Until then, I'll take every chance I can get to improve the tool at my disposal."

Lailah let out an incredulous breath, turning around and slashing her hand in the air, conjuring a blazing phoenix that burst spontaneously through the air with a piercing cry to drive off her foes. "…I hope that you are truly aware as to how despicable of a person you are." she muttered under her breath.

Velvet sighed, slowly standing up straight as the last of the hellions were mopped up by Sorey's purification powers. "Yeah, yeah." She shifted on her feet idly. "Tell me something I didn't figure out a thousand years ago."

Lailah shook her head slowly, too standing up straight and letting her arms fall to her side. "…I've been thinking back to all of His vague comments about you over the years. I think I finally understand what he meant." Her jaw set as she turned to face Velvet squarely, her eyes narrowing. "That is, I think I am finally coming to recognize exactly what kind of person you are, Velvet Crowe."

The woman in question crossed her arms unaffectedly, holding her judgmental gaze defiantly. "You just don't like what you've learned, huh?" She shrugged callously. "Funny how little I care."

Lailah could only grit her teeth in response.

"Rose!"

Sorey's call echoed throughout the chamber as he fended off a new batch of hellions that had just dropped in and had promptly begun attacking him and Edna. "Rose, try something else, please! Things aren't getting much better in here!" he pleaded.

"Hold on!" came the distant reply. "Unlike you, I'm new to this whole ruin-diving thing." A pause followed. "Maybe… this one?"

CRASH!

The group tensed, their eyes hurriedly sweeping the area in resigned anticipation for another battle. Yet none came.

They were instead surprised by a welcoming, crisp gust of fresh air that sliced through the dank, stale air of the ruins like a knife through hot butter. As one, the group turned to watch as the thick stone slab barring the way forward slid downwards smoothly through the means of a hidden mechanism, revealing an additional chamber within. Sorey's face split into a wide smile as he jogged out of the imprisoning chamber. "Rose! You did it!" he exclaimed as the woman in question met them at the entrance.

Following at a more sedate pace, Velvet stopped and narrowed her eyes, eyeing the assassin. "…Next time you try to kill us, use your friends instead of pulling an annoying stunt like that." she growled.

"Aha…" Rose, laughed abashedly in response, running a hand through her short hair. "That might've been a better alternative, in retrospect. But hey! No harm, no foul I say." She shook her head, instead gesturing to her side. "But never mind that; when I pulled that lever, something else in this chamber opened up just now." She shifted on her feet, the charms dangling from her outfit swaying with the motion. "And when it did, for some reason I felt a breeze coming that way."

Sorey glanced at Mikleo meaningfully before gesturing to Rose. "Let's go together, then." He offered her a smile. "If you're getting into ruin-diving, I should be around to help show you the ropes." he reasoned.

"Sure." Rose grinned. "Then you can go first and get skewered by any traps that are hidden up ahead. I'll go home with the treasure."

He blinked. "Huh?"

Mikleo snorted into his palm. "Such a gentleman."

Lailah clapped her hands together softly. "Since we've already fallen prey to one such trap, let us all stay vigilant, and ensure our noble Shepherd leads his lady through the perilous task before him."

Edna rolled her umbrella once, shrugging wordlessly in response.

"Right…" Sorey turned to the task at hand, Rose and Velvet exchanging glances behind his back as he stepped up to the mouth of the doorway, carefully feeling the frame and examining the passageway beyond the door itself.

The darkness betrayed no secrets, and yet the faint presence of distinctly fresh outside air clashed harshly with the centuries-old musty aroma of the ruins around him. A soft rippling wisp of unnatural wind kissed his cheeks and ruffled his hair briefly. He froze, turning to the side in surprise as he felt...

Rose tilted her head curiously as he stared directly at her.

"…Something wrong?" she prompted.

Blinking, Sorey shook his head and turned back to the task at hand. "Just my imagination." he dismissed as he brushed the feeling off.

Breathing deeply, the Shepherd faced depths of the mysterious ruins, his followers at his side. Despite the danger and the uncertainty, Sorey found a light smile on his face as he faced the unknown. Despite the uncertainty of the future and his questionable abilities as a Shepherd, his passion for exploring ruins would forever stay beside him. That was just who he was. With that thought in mind, Sorey ducked his head and stepped inside, plunging headlong into darkness.

---​

Rays of soft moonlight lazily drifted down from a bottomless well built on the surface high above in the ceiling of the massive chamber. Water dripped rhythmically in the surrounding darkness; moisture from the trees above falling down to gather into puddles on the weathered stone. Flourishing in the damp, dark conditions, patches of mushrooms sprouted from the stone intruding upon the ancient brick wall padding the circumference of the derelict underground chamber.

An ancient, underground chamber; one that had been left undisturbed for centuries. He was the first human that had step foot in this ancient place for who knew how long? Stuff like this never failed to thoroughly boggle his mind.

"You can close your mouth now."

Even Edna's blasé attitude couldn't rain on Sorey's parade he whirled around, near shaking with enthusiasm. "Just look at all this!" he exclaimed wildly. "Think of how much effort this would've taken just to carve out, not to mention the demands of ensuring the place had enough structural supports to stop it from collapsing in on itself! It's so big! There's got to be a reason why the people who built this place went to such extraordinary lengths to construct this chamber!" His enthusiastic voice echoed off the surrounding walls of the vaulted chamber.

Rose stared incredulously. "I mean, it's super cool and stuff, but…" She raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you reading into this just a bit too much? When it's all said and done, it's just a room."

"No way." Sorey shook his head firmly. "This place is an adventurer's dream! There is so much to be gleaned from place like these. For example, the manner in which the bricks of the walls were made, how they were adhered together, and what they're made of; these things can tell us all sorts of things about who built this, when they built it, and how much it cost for them to build it." He crossed his arms, his brow furrowing. "And then, with that information, it's possible to begin theorizing. For instance, if it turns out that this chamber was built in a time period where it was once believed an ancient civilization had long since fallen, that would imply wealth and purpose and completely overturn decades of historical research and hypotheses!"

At his side, Mikleo added, "Don't forget, even if it goes the other way and falls snugly within our current modern renditions of the timeline of history, that's just another piece of evidence to further set the current research in stone." He gestured around himself. "And that's just one example. Think of all of the little clues hiding in this very chamber that have the potential to completely revolutionize everything we thought about a given era."

Sorey nodded sagely. "Just wait until we get the chance to really sink our teeth into these ruins here. I could write an academic tome with nothing but the contents of this chamber alone."

Mikleo glanced up at the sky above. "Try two tomes. I'm completely lost as to why a well is connected to this chamber. Do you think maybe this entire place was submerged with fresh water at one point?"

Sorey's eyes widened. "…No way!" he gasped.

Edna's face was locked in a steady deadpan. "…They've turned rabid." she muttered as the two began to debate why a room would be designed like this, utterly and completely off in their own little world. She glanced to the side. "Lailah." she addressed. "Put them down. It's for their own good."

The fire seraph giggled into her palm in response, thoroughly bemused.

Behind her, Velvet's expression was unreadable as she watched the two boys go back and forth, collaborating their notes to the complete weirding-out of Rose who was watching Sorey animatedly talking ruin-gibberish to himself. She glanced away, her jaw stiffening.

"…And there he goes, talking to himself again."

Rose, evidently fed up with being ignored in favor of an imaginary friend, trotted around Sorey to explore the chamber herself, curiously checking under rocks and rubble for any potential treasure. "…I swear it just looks a bit like an oversized cave to me. I don't get what…" She blinked, abruptly registering something on the side of the wall. "Huh?"

"Sorey!" she called.

The Shepherd turned and his eyes widened as he saw what Rose was gesturing at. "That's… A mural!"

"Looks like a map of Glenwood of sorts." Rose noted as Sorey and Velvet approached, turning towards the mural with a curious eye. "But not quite. Looks pretty outdated. And what's the deal with those markings dotted all over the place?"

Stepping carefully around Rose, Lailah ran her eyes over the extensive map carefully framed and etched in stone before her. She glanced over her shoulder at Sorey. "This mural appears to depict… locations of shrines."

Mikleo blinked, squinting at the weathered letters in the ancient tongue bordering the map. "…Four shrines containing four trials, each of which are meant to test…" His eyes widened. "'The one who is to be the Shepherd.'" he quoted.

Sorey's eyes were wide. "…So then these trials are for me, huh?"

At his side, Rose gave him a curious look.

Velvet carefully scanned the map with her arms crossed. "Seems that way." She gestured with her head to the yellow emblem on the bottom left corner of the map. "That's the closest one to us right now."

"Where modern-day Biroclef Ridge is, it looks like." Mikleo agreed. "I'll take a note of all of these locations. They'll most likely be very important to us."

Edna glanced listlessly around the chamber. "We'll probably find stuff that's meant to help the Shepherd in those shrines." she surmised, turning back to the mural. "It probably won't be a walk in the park, either."

"Something that'll help me out, huh?" Sorey repeated thoughtfully. "So, likely something to aid me in the battle against the Lord of Calamity."

At this, Lailah glanced away, clapping her hands enthusiastically. "Ah! Inspiration! Tonight, we should prepare cheesecake for dessert!" she sang.

The group ignored her, as per second nature.

After a moment of consideration in the silence that followed, Sorey nodded to himself. "…Hey, Rose?" he asked abruptly. "Can I ask you some-?"

CRASH!

Sorey and the others whirled around in shock and surprise as something large and heavy smashed into the stone floor at the center of the chamber, having evidently fallen from the well up above. At the same time, they winced as considerable malevolence suddenly flooded the area, accompanied by sharp, whipping gales that swirled around like a maelstrom amplified by the curved walls of the chamber.

"AAAAAHHH!"

Velvet cursed as she registered Rose, whom had wandered away from the mural, now cornered on the opposite end of the chamber by the imposing winged hellion that had landed in the center of the chamber. Her eyes widened as the bipedal dragon's iron sword fell in a sweeping curve, aimed right at the woman's neck. "Rose!"

CRACK!

Violent cracks of air reverberated through the chamber as pendulums slashed with the wind, expertly conducted by the seraph that had suddenly appeared before Rose's trembling body, vehemently defending her from the attacking hellion. One wearing a black trench coat and a distinctive-looking top hat.

Mikleo blinked, taking the scene. "The wind seraph from before?!"

Sorey's eyes widened as he once again registered the sensation of unnatural wind bending on his skin. "Dezel!"

Rose herself had frozen up in terror, her phobia completely immobilizing her limbs as she simply covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. "S… Stop it!" she screeched, shaking her head in denial. "This… t-this isn't happening!" The menacing shapes phasing in and out of existence in her eyes suddenly lunged directly towards her, accompanied by a terrifying, distorted otherworldly snarl. She screamed, wildly slashing her daggers through the air in a paltry attempt to defend herself.

And then the world was tilted upside-down.

Rose groaned and shook her dizzy head, lying sprawled out and winded on the floor of the chamber and staring up at the starry sky visible through the tunnel presented by the well in the ceiling. Through her fuzzy vision, she somehow managed to make out the figure standing over her body, snarling as she pushed back against the ghost with all her might as their blades locked.

"Vel…vet?" she mumbled blearily.

The woman's eyes flitted down for a split-second at the winded assassin whom she had just shoved to the floor. "Keep your head down and your mouth shut." she hissed through gritted teeth. She abruptly snapped her head to the side, her visibly trembling sword arm beginning to waver. "Sorey, now!" she yelled, forcing her body to the limit as she pushed hard, forcing the enormous hellion to take a step back.

"Eat this!" roared the Shepherd as he crashed down upon his target, blasting the hellion with the full might of Edna's Armatus. The entire chamber shook in the wake of his landing, only to erupt once more in tremors as the Shepherd continued his assault, driving the Dragonewt away from Velvet and Rose.

Heaving for breath with sweat dripping liberally off her chin, Velvet suddenly turned around and violently seized Rose's collar, jerking her straight towards her own face so that their noses were almost touching.

"Wake the hell up!" she spat.

Confused, winded, and still trembling from her rampant phobia, Rose could do nothing more but blink stupidly at the order.

Velvet let out a disdainful exhale, shaking her head and catching her breath. "…You told me you're a no-nonsense gal who get things done, didn't you? No matter the odds?" The woman gritted her teeth and chopped her free hand sharply through the air. "Then what the hell do you call that pathetic display just now?!" she yelled.

Rose's breath hitched.

Velvet jerked her head towards the specter Sorey was barely managing to battle even with the full might of his powers. "As for your little assassin's guild?" she added vehemently. "Your beloved 'family'? The hell are they going to do when their leader disappears without a trace? The hell are they going to think when we go back and tell them you were killed because you froze during the one moment that mattered most?"

She opened her mouth… but no words came out.

"Tch." With a callous jerk of her arm, Velvet released Rose who barely managed to keep herself from falling on her back.

The therion stood up sharply, turning away to face the fight only to be confronted by the unfamiliar wind seraph standing directly in front of her, his arms crossed and his jagged teeth showing. Her eyes narrowed in readiness.

"Out of my way." she growled lowly. Down by her side, her bandaged left hand flexed instinctively.

The hatted seraph paused. After a moment, he smoothly sidestepping to the side without a word, letting the woman pass. Beyond him, the fight between the Shepherd and the monstrous hellion dragged on.

Velvet took a step forward but hesitated for a split second, glancing over her shoulder at the trembling mess of a woman behind her. "…Looks like I was wrong about you." she stated dully.

With that, the therion burst into motion, charging headlong towards the Shepherd's battle and leaving Rose alone. The assassin could only watch her leave, her chest rising and falling as the woman's words sank in, cutting her to her core. She gritted her teeth, dully staring at her trembling hands. The sharp clang of steel slamming on steel alongside the wealth of warped noises induced by the otherworldly powers of the Shepherd filled the chamber, making Rose want to simply cover her ears and curl up into a ball with her eyes shut until the world went back to normal. She was just so… confused. So out of her depth. So damn lost.

She shook her head again, trembling. This just can't be…!

"…se… Rose!"

Rose slowly lifted her head from her hands, trembling as the voice slowly seeped in through the noise. "H… huh…?!" she gasped.

Standing before her, Mikleo smiled gently. "…So you can hear me now?" he observed quietly.

"Sorry about Velvet." he apologized conversationally. "She can sometimes be extraordinarily terrifying, to everyone." He shrugged hopelessly. "And I have no idea why she blew up on you just now. She's rather strange, if you ask me."

Rose gulped, holding a trembling fist up to her chest and slowly reinforcing her resolve. "S… S-she's… the strange one?" she replied weakly, still purposefully keeping her gaze away from where the voice was coming from. "C-coming from a ghost, that's p-pretty rich."

Mikleo shifted on his feet patiently. "I'm no ghost." he explained. "You needn't be scared, Rose. It's as Sorey said to you earlier. We seraphim are indeed Sorey's friends." The seraph idly readjusted the grip on his battle staff. "…But to be honest, I'm not entirely sure that our presence is going to be enough in the coming days." he admitted. "Not with what we're up against."

Everything was wrong. She shouldn't be hearing this. This wasn't real. She was going insane. Yeah, that was it. She was simply going insane. Bonkers. Loony. Easy.

But wait…

Rose's unseeing eyes slowly turned upwards towards Mikleo. "T-Then…" she began hesitantly, "you're telling me…"

Mikleo nodded slowly. "I've seen who you are, Rose. We all have." he stated gently. "And not only that, you seem to be gifted with the ability to sense us seraphim; a trait that is all but extinct today." He absently shifted his staff in his grip. "My point is that if you wanted to, you'd be welcome to join us in our travels. Maybe even sharing Sorey's powers through a squire's pact, if you'd like."

Rose slowly got to her feet, braving her trembling limbs to stare out blindly in the direction of Mikleo's voice. "S-so I can what, help make the world a better place or something?" she began to squint shakily, barely making out the faint outline of something… abnormal in her vision.

Mikleo crossed his arms. "Something like that." he agreed. "In any case, it's ultimately your call."

Rose nodded slowly, her gaze slowly falling to her feet down below. Her fists clenched harshly. "…Say, what's your name?" she breathed softly.

"Mikleo." the seraph replied gently.

Rose nodded slowly. "Mikleo… right."

Slowly, her head began to rise, her eyes linking completely with Mikleo's eyes as she broke into a slow smirk. "I guess that means I can't be going mad then. There's no way I'm creative enough to come up with a name as weird as that." She grinned self-deprecatingly directly at him.

Mikleo blinked.

Rose blinked. Her eyes bulged.

"…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

SMACK!

Mikleo groaned, having been bodily shoved to the ground. "U…ugh." he grunted, rolling over onto his feet. "That's a fine how-do-you-do if there ever was one…" he breathed.

Heaving for breath, Rose glanced around frantically. Everything was different. Nothing was the same. Everywhere she looked she saw new, unfamiliar things that were freaky as hell… but she wouldn't turn back.

"A-Alright then you stupid ghosts, seraphim, or whatever! Sorey, Velvet… Mikleo!" She shook her head wildly before calming herself, forcing her eyes open steadily as she took a whole different world before her. "I… I see you! I see you all! Now gimme that pact thingie and get me in on this now before I change my mind!" she yelled shakily.

With a cry, Velvet twisted her body in midair and struck the flat side of the blade attempting to slice her in twain with her boot, landing a few meters away from her opponent and glancing over her shoulder at Rose. "You sure you can handle that?" she called back with a pointed glance; the unspoken challenge clear in the air.

Her eyes narrowing, Rose's chin dipped in determination. "I have to make up for the mess I made of myself, don't I!" she shot back, putting both fists haughtily on her hips. "I'll prove that I can in fact handle myself, thank you very much!"

Velvet huffed in bemusement. "Then you'd better not waste our time." she warned before jerking backwards, dodging the flames of the Dragonewt sent spewing her way.

Rose gave her a predatorial smirk in return.

Sorey yelled as he unleashed a flurry of sword strikes against his opponent, driving him off for a bit longer. "Rose! Are you…?" he met her gaze, carefully studying the determination steeling her features. Evidently satisfied, he gave a nod. "...Thank you." he returned, before charging back into the battle. "Lailah!" he called. "I'll buy us some time!"

The fire seraph took an urgent step forward. "But Sorey! You have to give her a true name first!"

"Wilkis Wilk!" the Shepherd yelled as he and the hellion exchanged blows once more.

Lailah blinked twice. "Huh?" When she didn't get a response, she smiled weakly and conceded, "A-All right!"

Together, Sorey and Velvet coordinated their attacks, repeatedly driving the hellion backwards and way from Lailah and Rose as the ritual began in the background. Edna and Mikleo supplanted their tactics simultaneously, ensuring that the powerful hellion could never focus completely on one person at any given point in time. Once the rhythm of battle was established, it was only a matter of time before help arrived.

"…FETHMUS MIOMA!"

BANG!

Both Sorey and Velvet leapt out of the way as a massive longsword cleaved through the air, exploding upon impact with the floor and conjuring a massive pillar of fire that engulfed the entire body of the Dragonewt instantly, eliciting hideous shrieks of pain and agony. Garbed in the flowing blaze-white clothing of Lailah's Armatus, Rose leapt back to land shoulder to shoulder with Velvet and Sorey, her eyes brimming with power. Her gaze landed on Velvet briefly as their opponent burned. "See? I'm not a liar, I promise." she pointed out gleefully.

Velvet simply waved a hand in turn. "I never said you were." she replied with an innocuous smirk.

Rose gaped at her incredulously.

"W-wait a minute… Hey!" she exclaimed in affront, scrunching up both fists and pouting. "You totally riled me up back there on purpose!"

"Guys." Sorey ran a hand through his sweat-matted hair in exasperation. "Not the time!"

Punctuating that statement, the burnt and blackened hellion reared back and uttered a furious roar that bounced deafeningly off the scorched walls of the desecrated chamber before it charged at the three of them once more.

Growling herself, Rose turned to face the monster before her in irritation. "Listen, you oversized punk!" she yelled back. "I'm having a very, very, very strange day today, and I'm not at all happy about it! And I also just happen to be holding a giant flaming sword that I know how to swing! So bring it on!"

Behind her back, Velvet and Sorey exchanged a glance.

"Hm." Standing besides Sorey, Edna twirled her umbrella. "I sure didn't expect this to happen." she remarked passively.

Mikleo gave her a murderous look. "It was your fault that she thought we were ghosts to begin with."

Together, the Shepherd's group charged back into battle, now with a new warrior by their side. With Rose's presence, albeit unexperienced, the newborn dragon was soon cornered and subdued by the combined might of the handful of humans and seraphim. The flames of purification spewed high and bright as the monster was engulfed in a silver bonfire, signaling the end of the arduous battle.

Gasping for breath, standing on shaking legs, Sorey let out a shuddering breath, falling to a knee and bracing himself in the aftermath of battle on the damaged stone bricks at his feet. "Phew!" he exclaimed.

Finally managing to let the Armatus go, Rose managed to plop herself down beside him, similarly exhausted. "Wha… what a workout." she groaned. "We… we sure showed that thing… whatever it was."

When Sorey opened his mouth to correct her, she sent him a death glare.

"Don't you dare try and shove another lecture down my throat right now." she growled. "I'm still an assassin, you know. You can read me my bedtime story later when we're back at the hideout, alright?"

Chuckling dryly, the Shepherd obliged, hanging his head silently as he caught his breath. Velvet slowly stepped over, leaning down and sitting beside Rose with a labored yet controlled breath. All around them, the seraphim gathered, all completely spent in the wake of the battle. Silence fell, resigning the towering chamber to silence once more.

Dezel was nowhere yet to be seen, and yet there was no doubt in anybody's mind that the strange wandering wind seraph was close by.

Rose slowly let her head fall backwards, leaning against the cool damp wall of the chamber. "…By the way." she whispered, trying not to break the calm. "Before that all started, you wanted to ask me something." She tilted her head. "What was it?"

Sorey blinked. "Right." He abruptly pivoted his body to face Rose fully whilst crossing his legs. "I had something to ask, because I've finally decided what I want to do next."

Edna cocked her head to the side. "You mean you've finally gotten over your slump ever since you got beat up by Kittybeard?"

Rose blinked twice. "Kitty-what?"

Sorey gave Edna a serious nod. "I have."

His gaze turned to pass over every one of the group members before finally coming to a rest upon Rose. He raised his left hand. The hand that was covered by the ancient glove bearing the holy crest of the Shepherd on its back. "…'The true purpose of the Shepherd.'" he quoted quietly, tracing the embroidered insignia that meant so much to him with his eyes.

"I… I failed back there." he admitted softly. "I was weak. My domain didn't stand a chance, and I was helpless as a result." Sorey took a deep breath, clenching his gloved hand into a fist. "There's no way I can possibly achieve what I set out to achieve… my dream… if I can't bear the true burden of the Shepherd upon my shoulders."

Mikleo's eyes were solemn. Lailah's lips were drawn into a thin line. Edna's expression was uncharacteristically serious. All eyes were on Sorey as he slowly lifted his gaze, meeting Rose's.

"I won't pretend like my failure never happened any longer. I won't pretend like everything hasn't changed." he declared solemnly. "No, my path forward is clear to me. If I'm to be a proper Shepherd who puts a stop to the reign of the Lord of Calamity, I must find my path, and do what needs to be done." He snapped his arm out to the side, gesturing towards the weathered mural at his back. "Whatever the shrines alluded to in that mural contain, they're a step in the right direction towards my ultimate goal."

"No more searching for answers." he declared. "I know now that the world will not be safe nor will my dream come true with such evil inhabiting the land. It would be wrong to not act accordingly."

Rose shifted in her seat, slowly understanding his point. "You wanted to ask me to come with you and help in your fight, huh?" she concluded seriously. "To help you find your power so that you can do what you need to do."

Sorey nodded. "If you don't want to, I can have Lailah-"

Rose abruptly leapt to her feet; all previous traces of fatigue seemingly having vanished into thin air. "Then we're headed to the closet shrine to here, huh? That's what, in Biroclef Ridge?" she gestured impatiently. "Then let's get going! it's a long walk and I'm hungry already."

Sorey blinked, a smile slowly growing on his face. "Rose…"

The assassin turned around with a smile. "Come on! I told you I'd help you out, didn't I?" she urged, putting both hands on her hips. "If I say I'm gonna do something, you'd better believe I'm doing it."

"…Alright." Sorey smiled warmly back, getting to his feet as well. "Lead the way, Rose."

"You bet I will." She nodded sagely. "You can get me up to speed on this whole Lord of Calamity thing to me on the way back to the hideout."

"Sure." Sorey agreed easily, following close behind.

Together, the utterly exhausted group of humans and seraphim began the long trip back through the damp, crowded ruins, hungry and tired. Yet, despite their discomfort, their steps were sure and steady as they walked forward, once more reassured to as the purpose and determination present in their leader's mind.

Up above, through the thin well tunneling up to the surface, the moon could be seen, slowly descending in a rapidly brightening sky. Silence fell as the echoing footsteps of the explorers faded, leaving behind only an empty chamber once more. The mural depicting the future of the Shepherd rested on the walls, patiently awaiting the next disciple to discover the secrets it offered.

---​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 14 – Iris.

As always, he felt everything.

The tranquil lapping of the crystal-clear waters and the subtle nuances in the currents signaling the presence of fish traversing the shallow waters. The family of common martins sleeping together in their nest on one of the branches of the aged oak tree arcing over the river. The fickle, erratic disturbance in the breeze as the herd of deer slipped quietly through the forest, leaving jagged game trails behind in the dry grass. The woman silently gliding in the darkness towards him, making next to no noise as she approached.

Dezel crossed his arms, facing out towards the opposite riverbank as she mutely stepped out from underneath the shadows, her expression unreadable. The silence drew on until it became plainly unbearable.

"What?" he prompted impatiently, breaking the quiet.

She abruptly angled herself away from him, her eyes fixed on his figure. "Tell me." she ordered plainly. "Just how long have you been pulling Rose's strings?"

Dezel exhaled sharply, turning face her directly. "…What's it to you?" he eventually settled on replying.

The woman shrugged. "You could call it a vested interest." She crossed her arms herself. "The others told me about your interest in the Armatus. If you're going to become Lailah's sub lord, I'll need to know a little more about what you're after first."

"What are you, some sort of babysitter?" Dezel shot back.

She didn't care in the least about his comment, instead falling into a slow, methodical pace, circling around him.

"You're the reason why Rose denied the seraphim in the first place." she observed matter-of-factly. "You've been controlling her body periodically even though her body rejects your presence. You use your powers to give her an edge whenever she faces more than she can handle."

The woman put a hand to her chin pensively as she walked. "…And from what I could gather from what the other assassins told me, you've also most likely been behind many of Rose's more spontaneous choices; her decision to follow the Shepherd being a prime example." She came to a halt directly in front of him, raising a pointed eyebrow. "And now here you are, looking to quietly gain the power of the Shepherd for yourself."

Dezel glanced away, gritting his jagged teeth. "…You're an observant one." he growled.

He abruptly uncrossed his arms, a smirk growing on his partially obscured face. "…You're travelling with the Shepherd for your own reasons as well, aren't you?" he shot back, fighting fire with fire. "I myself happen to know that Rose doesn't trust you, and for good reason. You called him your 'tool,' and apparently was perfectly content to sit by and watch as he struggled for his very life." He let out a grunt, shifting on his feet. "Maybe instead of worrying about me, you should worry about yourself instead, Velvet." he growled her name at length.

Velvet tilted her head to the side, unimpressed. "What you just said is all the more reason why I should be concerned about the presence of someone like you joining us." she retorted. "I have enough on my plate as is."

"…Hmph."

Dezel slowly turned away from her, absently adjusting his top hat with his right hand. "I suppose I can't disagree with that logic."

He let his hand fall from his head as he stared out across the river. "I have my personal agenda, that much is clear." he confirmed, idly observing the pack of wolves on the opposite riverbank through the medium of the night breeze. "If Rose has become the Shepherd's squire and is now able to use the Armatus, I'll use that fact to my own advantage."

Studying the man with a hawkish gaze, Velvet asked, "What are you after, exactly?"

Dezel turned to face her fully. "Revenge." he declared coldly.

"Against the hellion who killed my friend, tarnished the name of the Windriders, branded them as criminals…" His jaw set in fury. "…and forced them to live out the rest of their lives in secrecy as an assassin's guild."

Silence followed his declaration.

"…I see."

Dezel turned her back to her, once more returning his attention to the pack of wolves hunting across the river. "Let the Shepherd know about this, by all means." he allowed. "It's not like he's the sort of person to doom a vessel-less seraph to the fate of becoming a dragon by taking his vessel from him." He glanced over his shoulder, deathly serious. "Nevertheless, don't tell Rose any of what you know. Not if you don't want your own activities revealed regarding who you're manipulating." he openly threatened.

Velvet put her hand on her hip with a stale gaze. "I'll do whatever I want, as long as it furthers my own goals." she replied unaffectedly.

Dezel let out a rough chuckle. "…Then the same goes for me as well." he returned evenly. "I'll do what I want, regardless of what you or anyone else thinks of me."

She sighed and waved a hand in the air dismissively. "As long as it doesn't interfere with my own plans, I really don't care what the hell you do." She gave him an appraising look, pursing her lips.

"…But know this.

"If you keep walking this path, things are going to go far differently that you expect." she stated quietly. "The sins that you allow yourself to commit… might just come back to bite you later on."

"And what, exactly," Dezel growled lowly, "is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Velvet glanced away; her expression unreadable. "They're just empty words.

"…Speaking from experience, that's all." she muttered.

Without another word, she turned on her heel and left through the forest, her coat flapping in the breeze. He frowned as he felt her leave through the wind, her parting words echoing in his mind.

"…Tch."

Shaking his head, he turned back to the river, once more expanding his senses towards the world. Out of all the things he could feel at any given moment, nothing stood out more than the keen sense of poignant, everlasting hatred he nurtured in his heart. Nobody else could understand this feeling.

Nobody.

It was what made him who he was, and that would never change.

The river beside him continued to flow as he stood there, alone.

---​

"…I thought we'd be fine… but now, I'm not so sure." Sorey mumbled under his breath.

Mikleo's disembodied voice agreed. "I think it's best that you hide who you are, but the idea of making someone like you tell a lie is like…" he trailed off.

"It's…" Although Lailah wasn't visible, her falteringly optimistic expression was clear in the tone of her voice. "It's like trying to convince your best hen to lay hardboiled eggs."

"…Exactly." Mikleo confirmed.

Dezel's voice rang out alongside the rest of the seraphim with distinct sense of urgency. "Guess we better get ready to make a run for it."

Rose scratched her head nonchalantly, leaning back with her hand on her hip as she and Sorey took another step forward in the inspection line towards Lastonbell. They were surrounded on all sides by all sorts of travelers; merchants looking to find profit in the city of artisans, wearied family members just looking to find a bed for the night, and seedy-looking characters, anxiously glancing left and right as they were pushed closer and closer towards the line of soldiers inspecting the people entering the city.

"Guys, we have passes and everything." Rose was evidently completely unconcerned despite being beside the very person the soldiers were looking for. "Just chill." she stressed. "I got this." She shuddered abruptly, visibly fighting her urge to hug herself instinctively. "Just… No creepy head-voices for the time being. Got it?" she hissed.

"Hmph." Dezel wasn't too outwardly accommodating. "So long as you don't cause any trouble." he warned.

Sorey himself gave Rose a nod, readying himself for whatever she had in mind. "Kay. I'll leave it to you."

She gave him a look over her shoulder as they took another step forward in tandem. "You'd better." she warned. "Just keep your mouth shut, or the whole thing will come tumbling down like a house of cards."

She suddenly blinked, glancing around in surprise. "Say... We're missing one, aren't we?"

"Huh? …You're right!" Sorey too looked around in concern, tilting his chin upwards to see over the heads of the crowd. "Where's Velvet?" he asked, scanning for the familiar black jacket in the mix of travelers. "Did we lose her in the crowd?"

"Edna's not here either." Mikleo abruptly spoke up again. "I can't feel her inside-"

"Aaah!" Rose's instinctive yelp of surprise drew quite a few unwanted stares her way, which she quickly improvised and covered up by wincing and rubbing her foot as if she'd stepped on a needle.

"…Hey!" she hissed under her breath as people slowly lost interest in her. "What did I just say about the voices?!"

"You two! I said, 'next!'"

Both she and Sorey stood up straight as they registered that they'd suddenly made it to the front of the line.

"Coming!" Rose chirped cheerfully as she stepped forward, Sorey hurriedly dogging her footsteps while trying his best to appear calm and collected whilst at the same time keeping his mouth zipped shut.

Meanwhile, perched high up on the city walls, Velvet watched from above as the Shepherd and his squire trotted up to the lead guard overseeing the operation in the center of the square leading to the grand city of Lastonbell, a mix of bemusement and exasperation on her face.

A hum of mana announced the appearance of Edna who materialized standing beside her, her umbrella open to shield her delicate self from the sun battering down upon them. "Tired of playing along?" she asked.

Velvet just sighed, waving the bandaged hand perched on her bent knee with clear disdain. "I've had enough of this game for a lifetime, thanks." she grumbled under her breath.

Edna could only tilt her head in bemused curiosity at that.

Together, the two of them watched as down below, the show began before an audience consisting of citizens of Lastonbell, travelers entering the city, and soldiers seeking the heretic Shepherd.

A man with strikingly chiseled features stepped forward, habitually placing a hand on the steel sword with the subtle nuances of a person who knew how to use his weapon. "I am Sergei Strelka, Captain of the Platinum Knights, Defenders of the Glory of the Rolance Empire." He announced formally, proudly puffing his armored chest out in the process. He nodded to Sorey and Rose. "In cooperating to ensure the empire's peace, you prove your gratitude as much as your loyalty."

Up above on the city walls, Edna twirled her umbrella. "Is he always like this?" she deadpanned. "Or are his boxers just chafing him?"

By her side, Velvet let out a huff of amusement. "…like two peas in a pod."

"Please." Edna waved her hand disdainfully. "I have some taste in my vessels, thanks."

The therion smirked in response. "If you say so."

"Here you go!"

Rose announced happily as she pulled out and presented a stack of neatly pressed papers to the captain from her pack. "Our Merchant Guild pass." she elaborated. "We've come to Lastonbell on business. Specifically, the collection of a bill."

"Hmm." The captain raised an impressed eyebrow as he inspected the document. "The Sparrowfeathers, are you? Quite impressive."

Rose nodded amicably, shifting on her feet urgently. "We've got a strict deadline; no time to waste." She lifted a hand to point down the main thoroughfare cutting through the vast city behind the captain. "The place of business in question is the liquor establishment on the main road."

"Ah… yes. Boris' Canteen?" Captain Sergei agreed readily, handing the papers back to Rose with a smile. "That place certainly gets an awful lot of business."

Rose primly returned the papers to their rightful spot in her pack. "And we deeply appreciate being a part of it!" She tilted her head. "Is there anything else?"

"No. My gratitude for cooperating with our inspection." The captain stepped aside to allow the two to pass, his silver armor clanking with the movement.

"Thanks for all your hard work!" Rose said in farewell as she and Sorey trotted onwards past him and into the city.

Up on the city walls, Edna gave Velvet a look. "What was it again that you were worried about?" she prompted.

Velvet just shook her head, exasperation dominating her expression. "…Is it ever so simple?" she retorted dully.

"Next! You there!" Rose and Sorey froze as the captain addressed the latter directly. "Quite some garb you're wearing." he remarked, stepping closer towards Sorey with a curious expression. "Are you this young woman's guard?"

"Drat." Edna deadpanned before she vanished promptly in a flash of green.

"Uh-"

SMACK!

Sorey winced imperceptibly as Edna suddenly appeared from out of nowhere just to poke him mercilessly in the leg with her umbrella, stifling any words that were about to come out of his mouth.

"Oh, er…" Rose valiantly managed to pick up the slack, turning around to answer the captain's question. "A girl doesn't dare travel alone!" she replied lightly.

The captain gave her an inquisitive look. "Then why does he carry an ornamental sword?" he asked pointedly.

Mikleo appeared in a flash of green, taking an incredulous step forward. "He knew that Sorey's sword was ornamental?!" He exclaimed. "He's seeing right through us!"

Dezel's boots squeaked on the pavement below as he took a battle stance, his pendulums hanging readily at the base of his palms. "He's less of an idiot than he looks." He uttered lowly.

"Wait." Rose's whisper was urgent. "There are people watching."

She quickly turned around; a wide, nonchalant smile plastered on her face. "Well, y'know… We have our reasons!" she eventually settled on saying.

The captain's response was edged. "I'm asking your guard here." he stated plainly, turning his head towards Sorey expectantly.

Rose swore under her breath.

"Repeat after me."

Sorey blinked in surprise as Lailah took the initiative, standing behind him evidently with lines ready to be recited. He nodded his head imperceptibly, turning his body to face Sergei.

Up above, Velvet lifted a hand to rub her temples. It was an endeavor doomed from the start. Reports of the Shepherd's features and clothing would've travelled far and wide by this point. Combined with the undeniably bad luck that seemed to follow the group, there was not a chance in hell that the captain wouldn't've seen through their scheme. All in all, an irritatingly familiar scene.

Now, all that remained to be seen was how the Shepherd would…

"Please! Forgive my unquestionably suspicious appearance!" Sorey burst out monotonously and loudly. "The truth is, I am a son of a provincial lard!"

SMACK!

"Lord!" Sorey yelped, wincing as Edna's umbrella struck his leg again like a viper.

Sergei blinked. "Hm?"

Mikleo quickly walked around the participants of the play, giving Rose an urgent gesture. She blinked and nodded, trying her best to improvise.

"That's right!" she chirped. "My husband here is nobility!"

Dezel visibly recoiled from the statement.

Lailah's eyes shined in amazement. "What?!" she gasped. "You're married?!"

Mikleo facepalmed.

The play continued. "Never had I lifted anything heavier than a fork in my life!" Sorey recited with a high pitch. "Yet by chance did I fall in love with a travelling merchant! In the throes of passion, I threw my money and land away to be with her, just over a year ago!"

Apparently, Rose had forgotten the entire pretense at the first mention of needless financial waste. "You did?!" she asked incredulously.

Dezel had pushed his hat down as low as it could go without falling off, covering his entire face.

Both Lailah and Mikleo furiously consulted each other, managing to compensate for the assassin's slip. "E-Even my wife didn't know the full truth!" Sorey exclaimed. "The cruelties of the outside world taught me how feeble I truly am, but even so I knew a husband has a duty to protect his wife."

Edna fiercely seized Sorey's right wrist, forcing him to draw his sword and wave it around like a pitchfork. "So," Sorey recited Lailah's fiercely whispered lines, "I wear an ornamental sword at my side, as a hollow pretense of strength." Mikleo half-heartedly moved his other arm in tandem with Edna's manipulations before giving up and quietly resting his hand on his face instead.

"Laugh…" Sorey recited woodenly as his arms fell to his side in the absence of the guiding seraphim. "Laugh at the weak will of a sad, broken man!"

Dezel roughly pushed past Lailah and jerked the Shepherd's head down, completing the image. Sorey let out an involuntary groan of complaint as he was forced into a pathetic bow of shame. "Sorry!" he hissed.

Rose quickly took up the slack, jogging over and patting him reassuringly. "You're doing your best!" she responded with honest sentiment. "It's cool!"

Sorey met her eyes as she held his shoulder. "…Oh, my dearest!" he exclaimed dramatically. "Your sweet words are succor to my tired limbs!" Edna roughly dragged his arm into an angle, forcing his hand to limply rest over Rose's on his shoulder.

Mikleo's head dipped even deeper into his facepalm.

So came the end of the play as the seraphim had apparently decided that was sufficient, leaving the two of them frozen in that position, awaiting the judgement of the audience.

Up on the walls, Velvet continued to rub her temples in utter exasperation. She could only be grateful that she had had the presence of mind to slip away the moment she had seen where things were going. Her hand fell from her head as she instead watched the group of seraphim chattering frantically whereas the humans listened on silently with clear panic in their eyes. A mismatched group of strange characters brought together by strange twists of fate alone against the entire world. If only it weren't for her…

She sighed, roughly forcing herself to consider her options. She would have to intervene and help them escape as quickly as possible, somehow. She could perhaps cause a distraction elsewhere to draw the majority of the troops away, or simply go in and try her best to clear the travelers at the mouth of the gates for a quicker escape. Either way, it would do her no good if her tool was captured and sentenced to death.

"Sow the seeds of love, and they will bloom… no matter how arid the terrain!"

Captain Sergei had evidently been utterly overcome with emotion. "Live. And be strong!" he cried, turning away from them both and squeezing his eyes shut. "…Next!" he announced, clearing his throat. Apparently, there wasn't any need for her to intervene at all.

Velvet's eye twitched.

"…The hell?" she muttered out loud.

Sorey and Rose near stumbled over themselves while walking away, exchanging utterly incredulous looks between themselves and the seraphim walking alongside them.

After a moment of processing exactly what had just happened, the therion perched on the top of the walls shook her head and turned her mind to the task at hand, regardless. The wind whistled in her ear as she smoothly leapt through the air and onto a branch of a tall tree near the interior wall before efficiently making her way down the tree and onto ground level without being seen.

Eventually she herself made it to the front of one of the lines. By then the captain had been replaced by a lower ranking soldier of the Platinum Knights who gestured her forward gruffly.

"The name's Velvet." she introduced, giving the soldier a nod as she stepped forward. "I'm here to see Leo."

"Ah, you." The knight was quick to step aside with an amicable gesture. "He gave us a heads up that his cousin would be dropping by. You should go on over to the local garrison whenever you're free. He's always over there, doing some weird thing or another." He shrugged helplessly.

"Thanks."

She gave him a nod of gratitude before turning away and stepping forward into the grand city of Lastonbell, nothing more but an innocuous traveler with an easy in to enter the city during turbulent times.

This time, thankfully, there had been no doves involved.

---​

Children squawked and screamed at each other as they galloped through the crowded streets and alleyways, dodging and weaving between the multitude of travelers, merchants, and workers all traversing the path with varying degrees of urgency in their paces. Youthful teenagers gathered in packs at street corners in front of popular taverns and bars, chattering amicably amongst themselves. Scattered flocks of city pigeons fluttered noisily above the heads of the humans, migrating aimlessly between the tall stone towers and sloped tiled rooves in search of a by-chance dropped piece of food. Above all of the clamor and bustle loomed the Great Belfry of Lastonbell in the brilliant afternoon sky; a monument to the fruits of combined human labor towering over the sprawling metropolis.

The entrancing melody generated by the machine-run Belfry resounded off the walls surrounding the group as they wandered through the shadowed alleyways of the town, carefully sidestepping the busy residents hurrying along the same paths. Sorey and Mikleo hadn't stopped gaping in awe, glancing animatedly about left and right in the wake of each turn.

"It looks like the warehouse district of the city." Mikleo wagered. "This must be where all of the merchandise being shipped to and from places like the Capital are being held. It's a serious amount of dedicated space."

"That explains the amount of guards patrolling the area." Sorey noted. "With so many goods tucked away in one central spot, it makes sense to keep it under careful lock and key."

Mikleo glanced around some more, idly side-stepping a trio of children sprinting by Sorey and Rose. "Funny how the warehouses are all built out of fine material." he commented. "Normally such buildings would only be designed to keep out the elements. But here, at first glance they almost seem livable."

"…Oh!" Sorey blinked. "You don't suppose these buildings are part of the old fort that this town used to be part of?"

"The central headquarters, you mean?" Mikleo covered his mouth with his hand in thought. "…It seems possible. I doubt such aged, confined spaces built for minimalist wartime would be very attractive to those settling into the newly designated town. Perhaps the people of the town ultimately decided to demolish the interiors and simply keep the shells of the buildings to act as warehouses since nobody else wanted them."

Sorey ran a hand through his hair. "Then all of this was once the grandest part of a massive military installation and is now regarded as simply storage space in comparison to the grand buildings overshadowing it. Incredible!"

"There's so much history here, everywhere you look." Mikleo agreed wholeheartedly. "I could spend a whole lifetime here studying the ways the lives of the people today build off of the work of the people in the past."

"All the intrinsic features of humanity are here, right before our eyes if you think about it that way." Sorey nodded, in deep thought.

Rose exchanged a glance with Lailah as they trailed behind the boys.

"…Guys seriously geek out over the weirdest things." She waved a helpless hand in the air. "Warehouses are just big glorified closets, aren't they?"

The fire seraph giggled in response. "Well, let them have their fun."

"…Hmph." Dezel pulled his hat down lower, trailing behind the group at a conspicuous distance as he listened to the world around him with the wind as a medium. A pack of stray dogs barked and yipped as they were chased off by a pair of guards from a nearby warehouse. A barn owl grumbled as it shifted in its upside-down perch, fighting to stay asleep in the darkness.

The more prominent noises coming from the warehouses began to fade as the group made their way out of the district, being replaced by chirping birds and rustling crops. Bright patches of yellow neighbored lush brushes of green, waving in the wind. Together, the group walked alongside the fields, admiring the stark contrast between the industrial warehouses and the widespread farms laid within the interior of the city wall.

"Say, Sorey?"

Rose's voice intruded upon Dezel's meditation as she jogged up and barged in between Sorey and Mikleo. "Aren't you worried about how Velvet just disappeared on us back there?"

"Not at all." he replied easily, resting a hand on his hip. "She can handle herself."

"Sure seems that way." Her left hand made its way behind her neck in a display of idle curiosity. "…Say, how'd she end up tagging along with you in the first place? Been meaning to ask this for a while."

The mildly transparent amber fabric bound to the frame on Edna's umbrella reflected the bright sunlight as she turned it in a single revolution. "Lost cousin. Inborn resonance." she explained simply. "She apparently thought she'd have a better chance at finding him if she travelled with the Shepherd."

Rose blinked. "A lost cousin?" she repeated. "How'd she end up losing him then?"

"Well…" Mikleo scratched his head. "That's about all we know. She actually didn't tell us too much about herself."

She tilted her head curiously. "And that… doesn't worry any of you?"

"Nope." Sorey shook his head with a smile. "If Velvet has things she doesn't want to talk about, that's fine with me. She's a friend of ours and has helped me and the others out more times than I can count. That's all that matters."

His voice carried over the breeze, past the flowing stalks of wheat and tail ends of radishbells towards a raised stone park overlooking the entire area to reach the keen ears of the therion watching in the distance. Leaning against the stone fence encircling the raised platform, Velvet continued to track the progress of the Shepherd's group from afar with an unreadable expression.

"Amazing, isn't it?"

Weathered leather boots squeaked on stone as someone approached her from behind, accompanied by the sharp, acidic scent of tobacco. She turned around in surprise. "What?"

A knowing smile greeted her, presented by a man clad in a thick, sky-blue jacket holding a softly smoking pipe held in his gloved left hand. His cheery smile widened as he returned her inquisitive gaze, stretching his wrinkled skin and moving his goatee and mustache consisting of uninterrupted silver facial hair.

"They call it the city of artisans." He strolled forward with the gait of a man whom was more than accustomed to walking, gesturing with his pipe towards the view presented before them. "Every time I find myself in this place, I find myself swept away by the sheer novelty of it all without fail. The bells, the bustle, the sheer vibrancy of it all! Nowhere else in this entire world could a man possibly find a more colorful settlement booming with character and charm." He paused to lift his pipe to his lips, inhaling deeply with an air of satisfaction.

Despite herself, Velvet found herself responding to the strange white-haired old man that had so suddenly struck up a conversation with her. "What makes this place so special?" she asked.

"The simple prevalence of the arts flowing in its veins." he answered, his breath coming out accompanied by wisps of smoke. "The potter in the corner store. The architect on the rooftop. The trader on the street and the worker in the warehouse. Representatives from every profession in the world could be found here if you looked hard enough. It makes for a brilliant canvas of civilization."

Velvet shifted on her feet, crossing her arms. "That would also include the army garrisoned in the city this close to the front lines, then. The farmers with withering crops and merchants with dwindling stocks of food as well." she pointed out blandly. "If you ask me, the people of this city probably ought to spend less time worrying about how pretty things look and more about keeping their families warm and fed through the winter instead."

In response, the man nodded deeply, the shine fading from his smile. "…Indeed, lass. We are in troubled times, after all. The sort of times where the finer things in life seem to lose meaning to most." His pipe smoldered quietly in the midday heat, held up by his steady hand.

"…If you look around," he abruptly noted, "you'll find strange variations in the design of the buildings surrounding this area in particular compared to the others in the city. Why, might you say, would this be the case, missy?" He left the question hanging in the air as he once more returned his attention to his pipe.

The overpowering scent of tobacco surrounded Velvet's world as she tilted her head to the side, considering the man's question. "Because this place once used to be a military fortress." she answered. "That's the reason behind the tall city walls and the presence of a belfry that once served as a communication tower."

The stranger sucked on his pipe. "Correct." he responded happily.

He put his pipe down and crossed his arms over the railing of the park, closing his eyes and enjoying the light breeze. "This city, grand as it is in character and veracity, was built in the first place with the sole purpose to serve as an institution of warfare. A shrine to blood and battle; an impregnatable display of power and prowess to the enemy, whomever politics would dictate that to be at the time. Truly, rich within the very bones of this city, lies an allegory to the true nature of man."

"Not a particularly optimistic outlook." she noted.

"There will always be shadows that accompany the light." he replied evenly. "It simply seems to be a fact of the human condition. Conflict and peace. Abundance and famine." His head turned to meet her gaze, an unreadable glint in his eyes. "Prosperity… and Calamity." He turned to face her fully, his kind smile unwavering. "Wouldn't you agree, lass?"

Her eyes had hardened.

"…Why do I get the feeling you didn't start chatting with me just by chance?" she muttered.

He shrugged unaffectedly, glancing over his shoulder at the distant belfry shining bright in the glistening sunlight. "…The clocks may tick," he muttered softly, "the bells may ring, but at the end of the day there is nothing more inevitable in this world than of the dual-faced nature of man. It is only through acknowledgement of this fact that mankind might move forward and create something better; something greater out of the ruins and chaos of the past."

He met her eyes directly, returning her suspicious look with a serious gaze. "…And that, in its entirety,is the story behind why this city is so special. Make sense?" There was something distinctly familiar in that gaze of his. Unsettlingly so.

With a creeping sensation nagging her, Velvet opened her mouth and began, "You-"

"Mayvin!" Rose's call rang out in the air.

A shiver ran down her spine.

"Velvet! There you are." Sorey greeted cheerily as the rest of the group trotted up to her and the old man called Mayvin, who turned to greet him and Rose with a beaming smile. "This someone you know, Rose?"

"Right." Rose jogged up and slapped the old man on the shoulder happily, who let out a mock groan in response. "This is Mayvin." she introduced. "He's not with the guild, but we owe him a whole lot. He's an explorer, and yes," she added, "they still make those."

"Cool!" Sorey exclaimed.

Mayvin chuckled heartily with a respectful nod. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. You are no doubt the Shepherd I've heard so much about?"

"My name is Sorey. How'd you know I was the Shepherd?"

"Hahaha! Isn't it obvious? Anyone could tell just by looking at you."

Rose sighed, putting her hand to her temple. "We're lucky the guards at the gate weren't so observant then." She glanced at Velvet. "Looks like you've met Velvet already."

"Not quite." Mayvin's boots squeaked on the stone as he stepped forward, producing a hand to offer to Velvet, a bright smile on his face. "It is a pleasure to finally meet the Shepherd's advisor as well." he professed. "You can simply call me Mayvin."

Carefully watching his eyes, Velvet grasped the hand and shook. "Velvet." she responded simply.

He answered with a nod; his broad smile unwavering. With that, he turned back towards the Shepherd and Rose. "That reminds me, Shepherd…"

No longer the focus of the conversation, Velvet turned away from them all and returned to leaning on the stone railing, a hard look in her eyes. The city of Lastonbell sprawled out before her. High up above, the beautifully sculptured belfry began to clang once more.

---​

Silence reigned supreme within the deserted sanctuary. Every single slip of the boot on carpet felt like sacrilege against the all-encompassing absence of noise in the vast vaulted chamber. Rows of pews lined the elegantly carpeted path towards the altar stationed beneath a glistening mosaic of stained glass that glowed serenely with an otherworldly light.

"…"

Amidst the silence, a soft, focused muttering became distinct to the others exploring the sanctuary. Sorey turned around curiously as Rose trotted up to him with a distracted expression. "What was that?"

At his side, Velvet too came to a halt and turned around. "Something wrong?"

Her muttering increased in volume.

"Fethmus Mioma, Luzrov Rulay, Hephsin Yulind… Fethmus Mioma, Luzrov Rulay, Hephsin Yulind…!" Suddenly she whirled around, clenching both her fists and crying out into the empty sanctuary, "FETHMUS MIOMA, LUZROV RULAY, HEPHSIN YULIND!" Her voice resounded off the stone walls with a near deafening holy volume.

Velvet dryly raised a single eyebrow in response.

Beside her, Sorey took a step back. "W-Whoa, Rose! What are you doing?!"

"You tell me!" The assassin grumbled back, pouting ferociously. "When I formed the pact with Lailah, she told me I had to remember those in, like, three seconds! And now I can't get them out of my head!"

The seraph in question brought two hands together brightly, her cheeks reddening. "It was an emergency." Lailah defended herself. "I couldn't help it!"

Velvet let out a breath. "If it's been bothering you so much, write them down." she suggested. "You should be glad the learning curve to be a squire isn't steeper."

"If that's true, then why didn't you make a pact with Sorey yourself?" Rose grumbled, leaning on the arm rest of one of the pews. "You apparently have plenty of this 'resonance' stuff that the princess didn't have."

Mikleo's chuckle preceded him playfully resting an elbow on Sorey's shoulder. "Velvet? Sorey's squire?" he laughed openly at the notion, nudging his friend playfully. "She'd totally eat him alive!"

"Yep." Edna, sitting in the front row of the pews, deadpanned. "Guaranteed."

"…Hmph." Dezel settled back on the stone wall in the corner, tilting his hat forward. "Like a lion for a housecat." he noted with amusement.

Velvet just rolled her eyes. "…If you say so."

Heat flushing his cheeks, Sorey fought back against all the emasculating comments of the seraphim. "N-no! It's nothing like that!" He winced, feeling Velvet's hard gaze turn on him. "I-I mean, yeah, maybe just a little bit…" He hurried on to the main point before his words could get twisted any further. "What I mean to say is that-"

"Yeah, yeah." Rose tilted her head to the side. "Velvet is Velvet. That about right?" she interrupted dryly. By her side, Lailah burst into another fit of giggles, covering her smile with a hand of casting cards.

"Y… yeah." Sorey finished with a weak smile.

Velvet put a hand on her hip. "It's just not who I am." she answered simply. Her gaze slid dryly to the fire seraph standing beside her. "One could say it goes against my nature." she quipped ambiguously.

Lailah's eyebrow twitched.

Rose hummed thoughtfully in response. "…Yeah. That makes total sense to me."

She shot Sorey a sideways smirk. "Sorey would totally suck at keeping a strong grown-ass woman like you leashed up like his own personal hound." she goaded.

The Shepherd's embarrassed sputtering elicited grins from all those present.

"A… anyway." Sorey managed to compose himself and turn his back to the rest of them, facing the alter of the sanctuary. "I think it's safe to say that there's no guardian seraph here."

Edna crossed her legs on her seat in front of the pews. "Then what should we do?" she prompted. "Look for a seraph who can bless it?"

Rose scratched her head. "Anyone wanna clue me in? What's a guardian seraph do?"

"Guardian seraphim maintain a dominion over the surrounding area," Lailah explained succinctly, "helping to reduce malevolence and correspondingly the number of hellions created. For example, that was what we did back in Marlind to help reduce the effects of the plague, which was largely spurred on by the presence of overwhelming malevolence. By establishing Rohan as a primary benefactor of the area, alongside a dedicated caretaker of the pure vessel, we were successful in quelling the plague in the city."

"But here," Mikleo analyzed, "we'd have no idea where to start looking for a seraph who could potentially serve in that role. We'd be here for weeks."

Sorey nodded soberly. "We're better off leaving this place for now. We've got to keep our priorities straight."

Edna tilted her head. "The shrines, then?"

"Yeah."

"…You'll have a hell of a time with that, "Dezel muttered, "if you can't even tell when you're being followed."

"Who are you talking to? The stained glass?"

Sergei Strelka, Captain of the Platinum Knights, Defenders of the Glory of the Rolance Empire stood alone in the entryway to the sanctuary, his left hand resting on the pommel of his sword as his eyes leapt between Sorey, Rose, before lingering on Velvet. "…Didn't you have urgent business at the restaurant on the main street?" he asked them conversationally. "What was the name again…?"

Rose shook herself. "Y-yes, right!" she chirped. "Boris' Canteen!"

The captain's eyebrows narrowed; all pretenses of conversation gone. "There is no restaurant by that name."

Dezel cursed, readying his pendulum down by his waist. "He's alone. Let's take him down and get outta here!" He yelled, jerking his arm towards the armored man.

CLANG!

The pendulum clanged noisily as it was deflected against the wall of the sanctuary, having been driven off by a swift stroke of the longsword in the captain's hand. "What?!" Dezel gasped. "Can he see us?!"

"Nope. He's just that good." Edna sighed, leaning back in the pew. "…Have fun with your human friend, Sorey." she said dismissively.

Rose stared at her incredulously. "Huh? Seriously?!"

The Shepherd put a hand on the pommel of his sword with a shrug. "This is a human problem, after all." He raised his voice, "Outside, then?"

Sergei nodded sharply before turning around on his heel. "Outside."

As Sorey started walking, following Sergei out the door alone, Velvet glanced to the side at Rose. "Worried?" she asked.

"Well… yeah!" Rose exclaimed. "Aren't you worried that Sorey's a bit too in over his head? That guy's like, super strong!"

Mikleo put a hand on his chin seriously. "I'd imagine she's just curious to see how far her sword training has taken Sorey." he guessed. "Am I wrong?"

"…That about sums it up." Velvet waved a hand, beckoning them forward. "Come on."

Together, the group stepped out into the bright evening sunlight, out onto the paved stones littering the neat fenced-in courtyard of the Lastonbell sanctuary. It wasn't hard to spot the glistening armor of the captain and the brightly embroidered cloak of the Shepherd as they squared off before the fountain in the middle of the enclosed space.

"I shall apologize for deceiving you." Captain Sergei's commanding voice bellowed out. "Now then…" Metal sang as his longsword was ripped from its sheath, wielded by a determined warrior clad in silver. "You're going to tell me who you really are!" he roared as he slashed his sword towards Sorey.

His blade whistled through empty air as the Shepherd merely sidestepped the blow, instead retaliating with a quick jab of his ceremonial sword inside the captain's guard. With almost incredible strength, Sergei tensed his muscles and wrenched his sword back up to parry.

CLANG!

Boots ripped on grass as the two began to circle each other like a pair of dueling bucks, eyes locked firmly onto the other's gaze. Through an unseen signal, both fighters lunged forward once more.

Steel slammed harshly against steel over and over again between irregular intervals the size of fractions of a second. Sorey and Sergei both grunted regularly as they danced to the metallic tune of combat. The ceremonial shortsword of the Shepherd jabbed with quick and light stabs, punctuated by heavy-handed swings and somewhat unorthodox dodges. On the other hand, the captain's style was defined by bold, defining slashes carving unerringly through the air with a reach far outpacing his opponent's weapon. The fight continued.

"Blade Fang!" Sorey cried, leaping upwards with a slash before quickly following the maneuver up with a downward stroke, forcing the captain to the side.

"Impressive!" his opponent remarked, smoothly driving his sword to the left before retaliating with a sweeping slash at Sorey's gut. "Allow me to respond in kind!" His eyes narrowed as he took a step back, holding his offhand splayed before him in preparation.

"LION'S HOWL!"

BANG!

Sorey barely managed to avoid the spontaneous burst of azure mana that erupted from the captain's left hand. "Whoa!" he yelped, quickly grasping his sword with both hands to guard against a follow-up swing. "What was that?!" With a grunt, the Shepherd pushed the locked blade off his own and answered with a whirling slash.

Sergei side-stepped the move, readjusting his grip on his sword with a ferocious expression. "An arte! Handed down with pride in my country!" he declared, sweeping his blade from the grass to the sky with Sorey right in between.

To his surprise, his opponent responded not by dodging by any orthodox means, but rather by diving towards his offhand side with his blade swapped to his left hand.

"Eat this!" Sorey yelled, slashing as he touched down with his right hand on the grass.

CLANG!

"Agh!" The captain grunted and stumbled forward in surprise, fighting the pain that had violently erupted from his left ribcage where his opponent's blade had collided against his armor.

Not letting up, the Shepherd got to his feet and tossed his sword in the air with his offhand. Tensing his muscles, he leapt up after it. His fist closed perfectly upon the hilt of the sword in midair as he fell down from the heavens, mana aiding his descent straight towards Sergei, whom had just barely managed to regain his grip on his sword in a clumsy upward guard.

"SHATTERFANG!" Sorey cried fiercely, wrenching his sword down combined with his own momentum.

CRASH!

Velvet, Rose, and the rest of the seraphim whom had also come outside to spectate watched as Sergei's platinum armor tumbled across the courtyard, tearing up grass and expounding dirt into the air. Eventually the man came to a halt on his knees and sword, gasping for breath.

Sorey soon found his feet, himself heaving for air as he quickly felt himself for any wounds in the wake of the attack. Having found none, he turned his attention to his weakened opponent and began to approach him, his sword held limply at his side. Dezel leant by the fountain in the center of the courtyard, his arms crossed in clear disapproval as Sorey passed him.

"You held back." the seraph muttered. "You'll regret it later."

The Shepherd came to a halt, turning to face Dezel. "…I'll be fine." he returned seriously. "I appreciate you looking out for me."

Dezel sighed, kicking off the fountain. "Even your comeback is weak." he growled, before walking off.

"Are you… speaking to seraphim?" Sorey blinked and turned around to find the fallen captain slowly getting to his feet, wincing at his aching body. "So, during the inspection," he mumbled, "you really were…"

Sorey stood to attention and gave a short bow, his sword still held by his side. "I must apologize for lying to you, Captain."

"…No." The armored man managed to straighten himself enough to return a composed bow. "It is I who owe you an apology, Gentle Shepherd."

Sorey blinked. "Huh?"

Sergei's longsword squealed as he returned it back to its sheath. "Only in the clashing of blades may one gauge a man's strength." He gave a short, polite nod. "Please, call me Sergei. Might I ask your name?"

"Sorey." The Shepherd easily sheathed his own sword in kind, fully relaxing his body. "You're a strong fighter, Sergei."

"Coming from you, that gives me a great measure of pride." Sergei tapped his chest with his fist. "And yet this battle shows only that I have so much more to learn."

Sorey nodded wholeheartedly in agreement. "Of course. There's always more room for improvement for everyone."

"…So, what gives?"

Rose scratched her head as she and the rest of Sorey's group walked over to meet with the two of them in the aftermath of the duel. "I thought the Rolance Empire is on edge because of the Shepherd. Why'd you come here alone when you suspected Sorey in the first place?"

"I had heard enough rumors and merely desired to see the truth about the Shepherd with my own eyes." Sergei replied evenly, idly resting his hand on the pommel of his sword. "A man to be feared by those he deems unworthy, or so they said. A force of the heavens, my troops recalled. Or of hell, depending on which man you asked."

Sorey laughed nervously, scratching his cheek. "That's… a bit of a stretch."

"I disagree." The captain shook his head. "With bona fide seraphim by your side, the power you hold is truly that of the gods of old and should be properly respected as such." He tapped his sword pommel. "When such power is in play, all that matters is of the strength of character wielding it. Nothing more."

"Hence why you came to test Sorey by your own means." Velvet concluded, crossing her arms. "A bold move."

"I did not rise to become Captain of the proud Platinum Knights by taking half-measures." Sergei stated firmly, meeting Velvet's gaze. "I also do not believe you were around for the inspection."

"I wasn't." she responded shortly. "Velvet."

"A pleasure." Sergei shifted on his feet. "Now, with all of the details have been cleared up, I believe it would be best for me to inform you as to the state of the Rolance Empire itself." His expression darkened. "To come clean just as to why it came to be that the Shepherd himself would be forced to intervene in between a conflict between an invading Rolance force and a defending Hyland."

Rose tapped her boots on the grass. "Yeah, what gives with that? Princess Alisha on the Hyland side managed to keep her crazies in check, but then you guys went on ahead and blew everything clean out of the water!"

Sorey nudged her with wide eyes. "Rose!"

"What?" She waved her hand in the air. "You saw it all throughout town today. Not a single person we came across was in favor of war breaking out. There were even a few who didn't even know that it had! Doesn't that sound wrong to you?"

"No, I agree. Your anger is absolutely justified." Sergei nodded with a sober expression. "I hope it will be sufficient for you to believe when I say as the captain of the Platinum Knights that this offensive was an abject failure of the politics of the Rolance Empire." He sighed. "Alas, it is the duty of all knights of Rolance to follow the orders of the emperor. Regardless of any external influence that might have corrupted said emperor's regime, we must do our duty. Failure to do so would only lead to far more chaos and confusion and perhaps the complete destabilization of the Rolance Empire as a whole."

"Like pawns on a chessboard." Edna noted absently. "…He's got a rational head on his shoulders; I'll give him that much."

"External influence… huh?" Rose put a hand on her shoulder seriously. "Like who?"

Sergei opened his mouth to explain more but was interrupted by the voice of a single man entering the courtyard, drawing the attention of everyone present. "As nice as this conversation is, I don't think the church will take too kindly to us espousing heresy on their doorstep."

The captain was the first to react, blinking. "…Leo!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing away from the troops?"

The bespectacled man in matching platinum armor shrugged helplessly as he walked up to them, his armor clinking in the quiet of the courtyard. "I got word from one of the others that my cousin was in town." he said as way of explanation. "You know how much of an impatient bastard I am, Sergei. I couldn't just sit around and twiddle my thumbs waiting for her to show up."

Sorey's eyes widened. "Wait. Leo?" he breathed in recognition. "That's…!"

All eyes immediately turned to Velvet, standing there with a hand on her hip. She gave a soft shrug, waving a hand and returning Leo's gaze. "Got a better place in mind for us?" she prompted him.

The man responded by jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "Right this way." He glanced over at his captain. "Mind if I take the lead, sir?"

"Be my guest." Sergei allowed easily.

Nodding, Leo beckoned everyone forward, falling into a steady pace back out into the thoroughfares of Lastonbell with Sergei close behind. The rest of the group seemed frozen in shock, sending confused glances between the newcomer and Velvet, whom was apparently completely unsurprised by the presence of her lost cousin.

Velvet gave them all a once-over, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

Mikleo closed his mouth only to open it again. "What do you mean 'what'?! Isn't that who you've been looking for this entire time?"

"How boring." Edna tapped her closed umbrella in the grass. "I was hoping you'd show some emotion, at least. Shed a tear. That kind of thing."

Lailah tilted her head to the side. "You never told us that your cousin was part of the Rolance Army, Velvet." she pointed out curiously.

"I didn't know. Not until recently at least." Velvet responded with a helpless shrug. "He gets himself into all sorts of weird messes when I'm not around. Don't ask me how."

"Oh… I see."

Rose cocked her head to the side in confusion. "So… wait. Was he the reason why you split up with Sorey during the battle? You wanted to meet up with him alone or something, away from all the fighting?"

"…Oh!" Sorey plonked a fist in his palm. "That makes perfect sense!"

"No, it doesn't!" Mikleo shot back in astonishment. "Why wouldn't she just tell us if that were the case? We could've helped her!"

Velvet put a hand on her hip, her eyes narrowing. "Are you saying there was no reason for to me to leave the side of my master? That I ought to have tugged on my leash to drag him over to where I wanted to go?" She let out a derisive scoff. "Give me a break."

Mikleo's face had gone tomato red, to the amusement of the others. "Th-that's not what I meant, Velvet!" he yelped.

"Ahahaha!" Sorey laughed, running a hand through his hair. "Well, whatever works in the end, works." he supposed lightheartedly. "Come on, guys. Let's go."

Mikleo sighed. "…Fine." he grumbled.

Rose sighed as the rest of the seraphim and humans walked off, following in the footsteps of the Captain and his subordinate.

"…Geez." She scratched her head. "Never a dull moment in this crowd, huh?"

Inside her head, Dezel grunted. "Ridiculous." he disparaged.

"AAAH!" Rose yelped, leaping in the air instinctively. "Just what did I say about the creepy voice-in-the-head thing?!" she demanded, shuddering.

"…"

High up above, the sun continued to sink through the evening sky, bringing another productive day in the city of Lastonbell to a close.

---​

"Stupid mutt! Leave me alone!" Edna's pouting voice echoed off the surrounding stone walls of the garrison courtyard, accompanied by defiant yips and yowls as a small wolf pup hounded her as she walked. "I said leave me alone! This is mine!" the earth seraph reiterated, clutching the apple closer to her chest with a pout.

The wolf pup growled playfully in response, bouncing up and swiping at the delicious fruit held in her hand.

"Don't make me kick you!" Edna threatened grouchily, holding the apple high up in the sky and out of the demonstrably irritating pup's reach. This only served to encourage the wolf more who began nipping at the seraph's oversized heels in an attempt to distract her from his quarry. "Quit it!"

Across the courtyard, resting their backs on the walls of the garrison, Velvet and Leo exchanged wry looks as the latter's malak continued to harry poor Edna.

"Quite the colorful bunch of people." Leo remarked, himself tearing into a washed apple clutched in his hand. "Not at all the type I'd expect to accompany a Shepherd on his journey to save the world."

"You're telling me." Velvet muttered in exasperation, biting her own apple as she surveyed the small rectangular courtyard illuminated by the soft, fading light of the setting sun in the distance. Sorey and Lailah were taking a walk on the battlements, observing the view of the city from above. Rose was chatting with a group knights, evidently getting along with them just fine. Mikleo was trying to strike up a conversation with Dezel, and evidently not having too much luck at that. She swallowed the mouthful of apple, unaffected by lack of taste it provided. "Did your squad make it out alive?" she asked.

The man ran a hand through his hair with a rough chuckle. "Apparently they thought I'd been captured by that mad spy lady that had wiped the floor with them. Needless to say, I had to tweak the truth a little bit to make ends meet in that respect."

"And if they see me around here and recognize me?"

Leo gave her a wink, tossing his apple in the air. "They won't say a word." he promised. "I made it abundantly clear that if they did, you wouldn't just wipe the floor with them again, you'd turn them into part of the floor. And trust me, after the beating you served up, those chuckleheads will happily take that secret to the grave and beyond."

Velvet rolled her eyes. "Good enough for me." she replied dryly.

Leo played with the apple in his hands, his smile fading from his expression. "On a different note… You do know what we're up against… right?" he asked quietly.

Velvet stared at the bitten apple in her hand. "Yeah. I've seen him with my own eyes; Heldalf, the Lord of Calamity. The one holding Phi hostage." Her grip tightened.

"Careful." Leo muttered dully. "That's a perfectly good apple."

He shook his head, biting his own fruit once more. "The seraphim around Rolance are few and far between," he explained, "but I managed to piece together the same conclusions on my end as well."

Velvet took a calming breath, glancing over at him. "And what did you find out, exactly?" she prompted.

"The curse of the previous Shepherd. A hateful man infused with the fallen fifth Empyrean. Phi." he muttered. "That's why everything's been going downhill lately. Famine's been breaking out everywhere; natural disasters are running rampant. People are turning against each other and starting wars over dwindling natural resources. In the absence of the fifth Empyrean, shit gets real when the powers of the other four are allowed to run rampant."

He sighed. "And that's about the extent of my knowledge. You get anything else on your end?"

Velvet's eyes were distant, staring into the courtyard unseeingly. "We've learned of shrines dotted around the continent." she added. "Places where the Shepherd might venture to so that he may undergo trials. Four in total, the closest one to here being located in Biroclef Ridge. We think that these places might provide opportunities to improve Sorey's power."

"He'll sure as shit need it." Leo shook his head. "For someone to go up against a hellion backed by the full might of a corrupted empyrean and with a strange mystical curse linking the two of them together to boot… he'd have to be tough as nails and then some, with a boatload of power as well." He glanced at Velvet. "The Silver Flame; you've seen it firsthand. The power to purify hellions into turning back into humans, huh? Is it really strong enough to handle something like that?"

"Laphicet's power isn't the problem." Velvet stated firmly. "The real question is the one regarding the user's capacity to harness it, is all."

"And from the sound of things, you think Sorey's the guy for the job, no?"

Velvet's eyes were inevitably drawn to the figure on the top of the walls across the courtyard from them; his ceremonial cloak flapping in the breeze in a world dyed orange by the setting sun. "…I can't say for sure." she admitted softly. "We'll just have to wait and see." Soft remnants of the breeze floated down from the top of the ramparts, disturbing her hair and clothing.

Leo's gaze had softened in the silence that had followed her statement. "…Must be a nice change of pace, huh?" he commented lightly. "Playing hero, I mean."

His statement had the opposite effect that he had wanted. Velvet glanced away; her expression unreadable. "…Yeah." she muttered dully.

Cursing himself internally for his callousness, Leo opened his mouth to say something else only to be interrupted by a familiar commanding bellow.

"Shepherd's group! Leo! Here!"

"…Ah." Leo adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose. "He's back." He got to his feet alongside his friend, quickly chomping down on the rest of his apple. "Come on."

The rest of the seraphim accompanied Velvet, Leo, Rose and Sorey as they made their way over to the Captain of the Platinum Knights awaiting them at the tiled center of the courtyard. To Leo and Velvet's amusement, Hawk arrived as well, carried in the arms of none other than the earth seraph Edna, who pointedly ignored their looks and focused on Sergei as he cleared his throat.

"Everyone, I apologize for the delay. Thank you for waiting for me." He turned to his subordinate. "Leo. Are you prepared to depart?"

"All packed and ready to go, sir." Leo replied easily. "Just give the word."

Rose blinked. "Go? Well, where are you going?"

Taking a few steps forward to stand beside the Captain, Leo turned around and addressed everyone present. "Look, I was pretty lost for a while there after I'd gotten split up from Velvet. Sergei and the rest of the Platinum Knights here took me in and helped me out with the sort of kindness I didn't deserve when I was lost and alone." he explained. "I figured it was time for me to pay back the favor."

Sergei chuckled, shaking his head. "You don't owe us anything. Nevertheless, I will not deny that it would be a great boon to us to have a man with true resonance at our side, and with a seraph companion to boot. Especially when it comes to the task we have at hand."

Sorey's eyes widened. "You… know about resonance, Sergei?!" he exclaimed.

"I gave him the short version." Leo grinned easily, twining his hands behind his neck casually. "He believed me pretty quickly after I gave Hawk free reign to rummage through his stuff. Now that was some funny shit."

The pup in question yipped at the mention of his name, nestled comfortably in Edna's arms.

Mikleo held his chin in contemplation. "…I suppose that explains how he saw through our act at the inspection so easily. Not that it was that hard to begin with…" he shook his head. "But what does he mean by 'the task at hand?'"

Rose held her shoulder thoughtfully. "I imagine it has something to do with that 'external influence' he mentioned earlier."

"You are correct." Sergei nodded deeply. "As I said before, the Empire is currently battling with an unprecedented degree of corruption and evil amongst the members of the institutions surrounding the emperor."

"And that's primarily the church." Leo clarified. "That is, the Cardinal and her hellion-loonies."

"Hellion…? You mean… the followers of the church are hellions?!" Sorey exclaimed.

Lailah intertwined her fingers together worriedly. "That would explain quite a few things regarding the actions of the Empire lately. Very worrisome."

The snap of fingers drew the attention of everyone present as Leo pointed a finger directly at Sorey. "Not your problem." he stated firmly.

Sorey blinked. "But-!"

"Velvet's told me all about what you're up to these days." Leo continued. "And from what I can tell, what you've already got on your plate is a great deal more important than all of these petty human squabbles."

Dezel crossed his arms, his teeth showing. "You're telling us to just ignore the hellions infesting the capital?"

Leo shook his head. "No. I'm telling you all to leave the hellion infestation to me."

Silence fell in the wake of his statement. Only to be interrupted when someone cleared their throat noisily.

Leo winced. "I-I mean, us. The Platinum Knights, that is." he corrected hastily with a nervous grin, glancing over his shoulder at a disapproving Sergei. "The church might have been taken over by hellions, but we can still minimize the damage they can make politically by severing ties between the state and the church. I've been assured that we have an in with the Emperor himself."

He shook his head, meeting Sorey's eyes earnestly. "Regardless, the point is that I want you, as the Shepherd, to focus on Shepherd things." He grinned wryly. "If you don't take the fight to the Lord of Calamity as soon as possible, far, far more people are going to suffer because of it, and it all would have been for nothing. It's just that simple."

"Shepherd." Sergei stepped forward as well, his hand ready on the pommel of his sword. "We ask for your blessing, so as we could act on your behalf on such matters. As such, we as the Platinum Knights shall seek to rid our great Empire of such filth through whatever means we can, whether it be through politics or force. We shall beseech the Rolance Royal Family to gain support for our cause and will help stop the war that we only have ourselves to blame for igniting."

His armored hand curled into a determined fist, raised up into the air with an air of righteous determination. "Make no mistake, this matter is one borne of Rolance blood, and therefore must be solved by the means of those from Rolance. With this man standing beside us as a true member of the Platinum Knights, we shall have an edge in power and perception that will allow us to overtake the evil plaguing our nation!" His armor glistened in the awed silence that followed his declaration, his entire body framed in a powerful stance pointing a defiant fist upwards towards the heavens, decrying his dedication for blood and banner.

Edna sighed. "He really is always like this, isn't he?" she muttered.

"Yep." Leo nodded sagely. "He's exactly like this, absolutely, positively, one hundred percent of the time."

His cheeks reddening, Sergei cleared this throat and let his arm fall from the sky, recomposing himself once more.

"…I hope I have made my motives and plans clear, Shepherd." he said, facing Sorey respectfully. "I admit I am not entirely familiar with this 'Lord' that you must battle, yet I have learned to trust this man standing beside me with my life and believe that what he speaks is the truth. Therefore, I must ask if you will agree to this plan of action, allowing you yourself to focus on your own battles that are far beyond the understandings of a simple mortal man such as I?"

Just like that, the decision once more rested at the feet of the Shepherd. The fates and well-being of thousands of lives on the line. Sorey slowly lifted his head, meeting Sergei's eyes squarely.

His mouth broke into a small, earnest smile. "Sergei, Leo, thanks."

Sorey put both hands on his hips. "You're both right. I… have to keep my priorities straight. It was a mistake in the first place to ever get involved in the war between Hyland and Rolance. Now that I know what I know, I can no longer stray from the path laid out before me. My dream of coexistence between seraphim and humans… that will never, ever be a reality with that man in the way." Sorey's right hand tightened into a fist around the pommel of his sword. "Heldalf."

"The Shepherd's duty is to quell the Lord of Calamity. And that is exactly what I aim to accomplish." he concluded strongly, raising his eyes to meet Sergei's and Leo's. "Thank you, guys, for helping achieve what I could not. Really. Please, do what you can to help your people."

"Don't mention it!" Leo grinned easily. "We resonant humans need to stick together, huh? Besides, you can't be everywhere at once, 'O Gentle Shepherd."

At his side, Sergei was beaming. "Wonderful! Then we have a plan. The knights shall make for the capital with haste and immediately launch a renewed campaign against the corrupting reign of the Cardinal."

Rose abruptly spoke up. "Not that I don't doubt your abilities and all, but sometimes the best way to go about doing things isn't by being loud and official."

The Captain blinked. "Whatever do you mean?"

The smile Rose gave him was loud and prideful. "I wasn't lying when I said I was part of the Sparrowfeathers, ya know. If you ever need help, one way or another, just find your friendly local branch and let them know what you need. If nothing else, they're a great way to keep us in the loop of what's happening in Rolance as we go about our travels."

Sergei exchanged a glance with Leo. "…Those services would be greatly appreciated, milady. We will need all the help we can get in the battles to come, both physical and political. I thank you."

He abruptly bowed down to the ground with deep apology. "As a means of parting, I should say now that this mess between Rolance and Hyland should have never happened in the first place. I am utterly sorry for involving you and your husband into all of this. Please, forgive me."

Everyone blinked.

"Huh?" Rose stammered.

"Now then." Sergei announced, straightening his spine formally. "It would seem that our paths have been forged through the cast made of our own iron wills. By your leave, Shepherd, I shall begin preparations at once."

Sorey nodded sharply. "Good luck, Sergei. With everything."

"And to you as well, Shepherd Sorey."

Together, the group watched as the captain and Leo walked off into the courtyard, deep in discussion as to what steps they would take to prepare the troops for deployment back to Pendrago. The silence drew on for a long time after the two of them had left.

Mikleo finally broke it.

"He seriously thinks you two are married?!" he exclaimed.

Sorey and Rose scratched their heads at the same time. "What a weirdo." they both muttered.

Lailah clapped her hands together optimistically. "But! He's so pure!" she chirped.

"A pure idiot." Dezel deadpanned, to which Velvet could only nod in wordless agreement.

---​

The night had been long and dark by the time the Shepherd's group had finally decided to come to a halt to rest until morning. Most of the group were lying in bedrolls and slowly falling asleep, lulled by the steady crackling of the campfire in the center of the campsite that they'd set up on the top of a small hill in the middle of the Meadow of Triumph, west of Lastonbell. The famous leaning towers of the meadow dotted the darkened landscape as far as the eye could see; great jagged pillars of stone mysteriously built for reasons beyond even the most intuitive of scholars.

A world of mystery; of secrets and stories ripe for unearthing. How he relished every waking moment of it.

He might've gotten a bit too over in over his head, however, to be honest. He and Mikleo had refused to stay in the inn that night in Lastonbell, but rather elected to forge boldly out into the fading daylight to get a head start towards the first of four shrines that the Shepherd would have to undertake. Sergei and Leo were counting on them, after all, and the quicker they dealt with the Lord of Calamity, the quicker the world could recover from the slump it was in. Yet that also meant that he had completely forgotten about the concept of dinner, admittedly.

He glanced guiltily to the side from his own bedroll to where Velvet slept, bundled up in her own sleeping bag with her chest rising and falling at a steady rate. He had her to thank for being prepared and having a bag of groceries readily available in her own pack when they inevitably began to feel hungry that night. Her cooking had been, as always, extraordinarily good.

His brow furrowed as his thoughts once more began to turn with the tide of his thoughts, back to the parting words of her cousin a few hours earlier before they had left Lastonbell for good.

"I have something to tell you." Leo had said, drawing him aside inside the garrison of the Platinum Knights. "It's about Velvet."

Sorey had been thinking about this very subject himself at the time. "She'll be coming with you to Pendrago, right? After all-"

"No." The man had cut him off, shaking his head seriously. "She wants to keep travelling with all of you."

"…Really?" Sorey had breathed. "But… why?"

Leo had shifted on his feet, clearly uncomfortable with what he was about to say, tapping on the pommel of his sword rhythmically. "She never told you what happened to her brother, did she?" he had near forced out through his lips as if it had pained him.

"Her brother…? Back home near Ladylake? No, she didn't tell us much at all, really." Sorey hadn't felt very comfortable openly discussing Velvet's actions, even if it was with her cousin.

Leo hadn't seemed surprised in the least. "She's not the most… open of types, huh?" he had smirked weakly. He had shifted uncomfortably on his feet for a few seconds before eventually getting to the point. "Listen." he'd muttered. "Her brother's dead."

Sorey's eyes had widened in shock.

He hadn't stopped talking. "All of our family's pretty much toast at this point, leaving just the two of us on our own in this world. There's nothing left for us back there, and really what we've been doing these past few years has just been to wander about aimlessly, looking for someplace to hold us down."

It had suddenly all made sense to Sorey. Velvet's tight-lipped demeanor, her skills when it came to travel and weaponry, that look she gotin her eyes when she stared out into the distance at times.

"And I'm telling you, man." Leo had continued earnestly, a pained look in his eyes. "There's a reason why we never found another place to settle down after her brother died."

At Sorey's inquisitive expression, the man had elaborated, "Velvet has never truly let go of the memory of her little brother." He had shaken his head. "Try as I might, I can't get her to move on. I know that deep down inside of her, there's a part of her that still longs to do what her brother couldn't back when he was alive. To travel the world… That was always Laphicet's dream."

Sorey's mouth had run dry at this point. He eventually found his voice again after a moment of processing it all; the history of the enigmatic stranger whom had become his friend over the course of her tagging along with him. "Of… of course." he had responded firmly. "I told her when we first met that she's welcome to travel with us, as long as it's not a problem for her." He'd smiled softly. "She's a good friend to all of us. You don't have to worry about your cousin, Leo. I promise."

Leo's eyes had dug into his in the silence following his declaration, seemingly seeking any sort of deception in his own gaze. Eventually, it became evident that he'd been satisfied by what he'd seen.

"…Velvet's been through a lot." he had murmured quietly. "Far more than I myself have ever gone through, trust me." He had glanced away at that point, staring out into the setting sun with that same strange look in his eyes.

"Listen. Whatever she does during her time with you… just… regardless of what it is… just keep what I've said in mind, alright?" he'd breathed, almost imperceptibly quietly.

Sorey had nodded without hesitation in response. "I promise. She will always be welcome with us."

Leo had chuckled strangely, looking away. "Good."

Sorey frowned as he ruminated on that conversation, thinking about all of the things Leo had revealed to him that Velvet herself had never once opened up about throughout their weeks of traveling together. Her brother… her family. The things Leo had alluded to but had never quite made clear exactly what it was that Velvet Davidson had undergone during her trying lifetime.

He shook his head, berating himself for being insensitive. Whatever her past might be shouldn't concern him one bit. All that should matter to him now, would be to continue to ensure that she was welcomed in with the rest of the group, regardless of what she might've gone through or where she might've come from.

He had said that she was welcome here, and he'd be damned as a Shepherd if he ever went back on his word.

CRACK!

Everyone jolted in shock and surprise as an inexplicable branch of bright purple lightning fell from the clear night sky to crash loudly into the nearby plains, accompanied by a blinding flare of bright white light that detonated across the land, rendering the soft yellow light of the campfire completely insignificant. Weapons were drawn and mana was pre-emptively gathered as seraphim and humans stumbled out of their bedrolls, alarmed by the sudden supernatural burst of lightning.

"The hell was that?!" An upset Rose yelped, flipping her two daggers in her hands readily.

"Ugh!" Edna groaned as well, blinking the flash of brightness from her eyes. "Is it too much to ask for a speck of sleep around here?!"

Lailah's eyes widened. "Malevolence!" she gasped. "Is this a domain?!"

"…No." Mikleo shook his head, slowly lowering his staff. "It looks to be just a gathering of leftover malevolence, brought about by an arte."

Sorey exchanged wide-eyed glances with Rose. "An arte…? It can't be…"

Velvet stepped forward; her eyes fixed at the point where the bolt of lightning had fallen. "…There's something down there." she announced.

Exchanging wary glances, the group slowly moved forward, keeping their weapons at the ready and their eyes scanning the skies for any further artes. None came. The foreboding the silence that had returned in the wake of the strike reigned supreme, unbroken by even the chirping of crickets. The whole world felt stagnant as they approached, almost frozen in anticipation.

The only thing that awaited them in the charred patch of grass at the base of the plains was a single round stone, unnaturally smooth and simmering with a faint red and purple glow.

"This is…" Sorey mumbled, reaching down to pick up the strange stone.

A flash of white.

---​

A mosaic of shifting shadows and brief silhouettes of light. A vision mixed with creeping fingers of obscuring darkness blackening out the world.

From within the harsh blasts of white mixed with darkness came violent flashes of red and violet; jagged, asymmetrical lines running in tandem crashing against the walls and floors shaped by the vague hues of light and dark.

Violent explosions of flame, unobscured by the tendrils of black terrorizing the image, stood out in stark contrast to the rest of the scene; each flash of a subsequent explosion revealing vague details about the scene.

Pools of blood, standing out too starkly in the darkness began to gather and congeal in the streets of white, corrupting the pure landscape until the entire world seemed to lay tainted by specks of maroon.

Amidst it all, a single vague figure could be seen strolling through the chaos. One utterly distorted and obscured from view, yet an undeniable, terroristic presence, nonetheless.

---​

Sorey blinked rapidly as his vision returned to him, carefully reorienting himself by feeling each one of his senses and finding himself back in the darkened plains alongside his friends, all of whom were similarly disoriented and recovering in the aftermath of the vision they evidently had all shared at once.

"That was… an iris gem?" Lailah seemed hesitant in her words, a strange look in her eyes as she steadied herself on her feet.

Mikleo gave her an incredulous look. "That was an iris gem?! That was nothing like what is described in the Celestial Record! It was so…!"

"Dark." Edna remarked. "So frustratingly dark. I couldn't see anything."

Dezel crossed his arms, frowning. "It looks as if someone has tampered with this memory."

"Tampered?" Sorey repeated incredulously. "But I thought iris gems were treasured because of their resistance against tampering!"

"That's… not necessarily correct." Lailah intertwined her hands before her quietly, avoiding their eyes. "While it is true that memories stored within these stones could never be altered, obscuring them is another matter altogether."

"And so that's what happened with this one, huh?" Rose considered seriously. "Wonder why?" Her gaze tilted upwards in the darkened heavens from where the lightning arte had originally come from, her lips drawing firm. "…You think this is his work?"

"Heldalf's?" Mikleo asked quietly. "Sure looks like it. But that begs the question of why?"

Meanwhile Sorey, still kneeling on the ground, had taken to staring at the dormant iris gem in his palm with a deep, serious expression. "…Mikleo." he prompted abruptly. "Did you see that back there? What made that vision so strange?"

Rose raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Gee, wonder if he did?"

Mikleo shook his head in response. "No, he's talking about something other than the blood and explosions. There was one thing in particular that caught my eye also in that vision." He crossed his arms seriously. "Sails." he stated. "On fire."

Sorey nodded. "Which indicates a period far, far in the past, back when naval empires were in the height of their power with an alternate arrangement of the continents."

"Between the Asgard Unification Period and the Era of Asgard, then." Mikleo concluded. "No other time period to date contained such supremacy of recorded naval technology." he grunted, cupping his chin with his hand. "To think someone could go so far as to massacre dozens in the streets, and to so carelessly destroy such miraculous technological achievements to boot!"

"But who?" Rose asked quietly. "Who is this iris gem trying to tell us about? Someone obviously went through a whole heck of a lot of effort to try and get the message across."

Sorey got to his feet, reaching into his pack to pull out a book with a green cover, his lips drawn in a thin line.

"A past Lord of Calamity." he muttered. "One by the name of Velvet Crowe."

Mikleo folded his arms. "The events line up with the narrative presented in that book of yours, then?"

The Shepherd nodded seriously. "One of the many atrocities she committed in that era; ones that would ultimately snowball and lead to the downfall of civilization itself... The end of the Graceful Asgard era."

Mikleo's eyes grew wide as saucers. "…Sorey! You don't mean to say that one being was the cause of the end to an entire era of mankind?!" he exclaimed.

"It was just a hunch I conjectured when I first read this." Sorey admitted. "But now with this iris gem depicting one of the infamous events explicitly defined in this book… it seems more and more likely to be true."

"…Unbelievable." Mikleo muttered. "This might very well be the true extent of the influence of a Lord of Calamity allowed to run amok upon the world."

Rose put her hands on her hips. "So, to sum things up, things probably won't go so well if we fail to bring that Heldalf guy down, huh?" she shook her head. "Geez. You weren't kidding when you said you were in for it." she muttered.

"If you want to-" Sorey began.

"Don't even think about it!" Rose cut him off good-naturedly. "I decided to become your squire because I figured it was the right thing to do, and so far, I've only seen proof that confirms that sentiment. You asked me to tag along on your little adventure, so come on! Lighten up a bit, would ya?"

Dezel huffed. "Leave it to you to tell a guy trying to save the world by going up against an apocalyptic monster to lighten up." he muttered.

"Like you're an exemplary icon of easygoing vibes yourself!"

Sorey chuckled, happy to let the tension drain away in the wake of the strange and befuddling incident. He gently pocketed the iris gem in his hand, making a mental note to re-activate it and study the vision again later tomorrow. If they came across any more, he would make sure to document each and every one.

He had to know his enemy, after all.

"…Still, there's one thing that bothers me." Mikleo frowned. "If this really was from Heldalf… exactly why did he feel the need to go through all this effort? Iris gems are crafted from seraphic artes, right? He'd need the help of a seraph to extract it, and on top of that he'd have to then carefully tamper it to make it show only what he wanted us to see."

Rose sighed, waving a hand in the chilly night air. "You know what, Mikleo?" she drawled. "We can ask him the next time we see him." she grumbled. "Until then it's way too darn late for these sorts of heavy-ass questions. I'm going back to bed. Don't wake me unless a hurricane is bearing down on us."

Sorey laughed, running a hand through his hair as he followed. "I'm with you one hundred percent, Rose." he agreed wholeheartedly with a yawn. "Time for bed!"

Edna rolled her eyes. "Bunch of children."

Lailah smiled, some life returning to her eyes. "That's why we all get along so well." she reasoned gently. "Come on, Edna. You're just as tired as everyone else."

"…Fine."

Together, the rest of the group turned away from the scene and began to head back to the welcoming campfire, and back to their deliciously warm and comfy bedrolls as well. Only one person was left standing in the burnt circle that the bolt of lightning had fallen upon long after they had left all.

Velvet Crowe herself had her arms crossed tightly against herself, her hair waving gently in the soundless night breeze. Evidently, Heldalf had taken to driving a wedge between her and the Shepherd in preparation for the inevitable moment that her true identity was revealed to Sorey.

She scoffed.

Like it would make a difference. On the contrary, the more Shepherd Sorey despised those of her kind, the more motivation he would have to pursue the end goal she had in mind for him. Still, she supposed, deception aside, it would seem like the truth always persevered, one way or another. Inexplicably, the words of the strange wanderer called Mayvin came to mind at that very moment.

"The clocks may tick, the bells may ring, but at the end of the day there is nothing more inevitable in this world than of the dual-faced nature of man."

She frowned.

It was true, she supposed; that was indeed how it all worked. She was a prime example of that fact. With that grim thought dominating her mind, she turned around and walked back towards the campfire, darkness clouding her thoughts.

End of Part 3 – Ancient Vestiges.

---​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 15 – Hesitation.

He supposed it hadn't been the best idea to go out alone during the darkest part of the night. But then again, it had been obvious that sleep wasn't going to be happening for him back at camp in his warm bedroll. With that thought in his mind, he drifted to a halt, aimlessly looking around as he shuffled on his feet for warmth.

A dull, dry wind gusted through the darkened foothills, twisting and weaving through the branches of the dead trees dotting the rolling landscape and producing a low, eerie moan that sent shivers down Sorey's spine. The rising mountains hinted at by the foothills he stood upon loomed over him in the darkness, blocking out the stars with their intimidating mass. He shivered, his breath misting in the biting cold as he forced himself to keep putting one boot in front of the other.

"NO!" a man's frantic, hysterical voice begged. "NO, PLEASE!"

A bloodcurdling scream shattered the unbreakable silence of the night, echoing off the nearby mountain range.

Immediately, Sorey whirled around, his eyes wide as he tried to discern where the scream had come from. Subsequent, continuous howls of unadulterated agony rapidly followed the first, driving him into action. His rapid breathing caused puffs of mist that dogged his steps as he charged up the next foothill, his right hand grasping the pommel of his sword as the screams grew louder and louder.

The moment he rounded the peak of the hill and came into view of the source, he inadvertently entered the domain as well – a horribly, horribly familiar domain. He froze on the spot, his eyes widening in uncomprehending shock.

A seraph taking the form of a middle-aged man clad in a pure white tunic accented by veins of aquamarine squirmed and screamed in the monster's grasp, the putrid malevolence of the surrounding domain eagerly and visibly seeping into his body like water into a dry sponge. He cried out again as the pulsating claw clutching his waist tightened, tears falling from his eyes clenched shut against the overwhelming pressure of malevolence tearing into his heart.

Sorey was beyond horrified. He took an incredulous step forward, his sword held loosely in his hand. "What… WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" He yelled, aghast.

In response, the monstrous hellion gripping the helpless suffering seraph in its claw turned its head over its shoulder to look directly at him, a pair of jarring crimson eyes glaring through a familiar steel mask that glinted in the moonlight. In that moment of true, undeniable proof that what he was hopelessly denying was actually the case, Sorey's mind momentarily ceased to function.

The tip of his sword sank into the earth, its own leverage being the only thing keeping it connected with his fingers.

And then in the next moment, it was over. The howling screams of the seraph came to a halt as the man clutched his head in pure agony, the poisonous malevolence having completely saturating his body and invaded his mind. The world exploded in a violent reaction to the final clash between the seraph's pure essence and the corrupting malevolence; the resulting shockwave thrumming through the entirety of the foothills and beyond. Sorey was forced a few steps backwards from the explosion, instinctively raising an arm to shield his eyes from the dust blasting his way as his cloak flapped frantically behind him in the billowing winds. Forgotten amidst the chaos, his sword fell from his grip. When the air had calmed enough to allow him to lower his arm, a horrific sight awaited him.

A newly born bipedal dragon panted on its back amidst a patch of burnt grass in the foothills, its elongated body reeking in fresh malevolence eagerly intermingling with that of the domain. The powerful chest of the young Dragonnewt rose and fell at increasingly regular intervals, plumes of mist accompanying its labored breathing as it acclimated to the transformation.

The successful corruption of an innocent seraph, into a monster.

In the relative silence of the now deceptively calm domain, Sorey somehow managed to find his voice. "…Y…you." he breathed shakily, drawing the masked hellion's full attention as it turned to face him, its movements suddenly foreign to him. He blinked, uncomprehendingly. "Why would you…?"

"You failed."

Sorey's eyes widened in response to the deep, warped voice uttered by the masked hellion. The monster stood there, its pulsating, monstrous claw hanging idly at its side, staring directly at him with narrowed eyes as if… it was disappointed with him. His breath hitched as he registered its meaning with a sinking feeling in his chest.

It had all been a test. For him. To see if he would have the instinctive capacity to charge in and save the seraph in peril from itself. A monster clearly torturing a seraph with its malevolence. This hellion had wanted to see if he would have the capacity to draw his blade for real and attack the hellion that he had thought was different at the drop of a hat the moment he saw it doing something clearly malicious.

Yet he hadn't. He had failed.

Behind it, the breathing of the recovering Dragonnewt continued to steady; a sign of an oncoming storm. The masked hellion turned away from both Sorey and the waking dragon, instead facing outwards towards the emptiness of the plains beyond. Malevolence poured out of its being in vast quantities that Sorey had only ever seen once before, accentuating every move of its cloaked figure.

The sound of metal clattering against earth and rock brought his attention to his feet; the hellion had kicked his fallen sword across the grass over to him.

"Save him." In the silence, its warped command rang out deafeningly.

Then, without another word, the hellion leapt into the air with inhuman strength, all but immediately vanishing into the night sky. Within moments, its domain had faded from the area, causing the harsh winds to slowly die down in the wake of its departure and leaving Sorey alone with a newborn dragon that was now slowly getting to its feet with lethargy and weakness in its every move.

The Shepherd gritted his teeth and forced himself to step forward and pick up his sword with bone-white knuckles, his boots crunching noisily on the burnt grass. Another dull, dry wind gusted through the foothills, playing with the regal cloak on his back as he approached his opponent, his lips drawn into a thin line. The Dragonnewt, steadying itself on unfamiliar limbs, abruptly registered the human approaching it, prompting a low, instinctive growl that thrummed down its throat.

Sorey didn't wait for his opponent to be ready. Fury borne of pure frustration in his eyes, he charged the empty-handed bipedal dragon, his sword sweeping through the air. "HAAAAAAAHHH!" he roared.

SHINK!

The dragon's bellow of agony echoed off the nearby mountain range as his blade bit deeply into the hide of its leg, causing it to stumble backwards. It lumbered around, its monstrous, mindless eyes glowing in the darkness, before finding the attacking human right behind him. Sorey smartly dodged the monster's talons as it kicked at him, rolling to the side while simultaneously bringing his sword up to bear. He was rewarded by a gratifying roar of pain as his sword sank into the monster's other leg.

He quickly got to his feet and bolted to the side, just in time to avoid the newborn dragon's weak spew of flame. The boiling hot flames near blinded him and singed his clothing as he barely avoided the dragon's breath. He abruptly changed course and once more threw a slash at the newborn dragon's thigh, scoring another direct hit and drawing copious amounts of blood while eliciting a howl of rage and pain.

Stumbling on weak legs, the Dragonnewt abruptly whirled around and slammed its tail directly into the Shepherd's gut, tossing him bodily across the field. He crashed harshly onto the grass, tumbling to a halt with the breath knocked out of him. Wincing, he spat out dirt and blood-tinged saliva as he stumbled to his feet with his sword still held readily in his right hand.

Yet, amidst the emotions swirling confusingly in his brain and the aching of his body, Sorey found that he welcomed the clarity that the challenge and peril that the battle provided him.

A fierce expression spawned on his face as he stood up straight, standing his ground as the Dragonnewt stumbled towards him on injured legs. "I'm not done yet!" he yelled, bring his sword up and behind him, focusing copious amounts of mana behind his actions in preparation.

A deafening crack echoed into the air as the Shepherd shot forward towards his opponent, the very air crackling with unnatural electricity. His blade slammed with unnatural force into the Dragonnewt's left leg, causing it to stumble onto its knee. The moment his blade met resistance, Sorey twisted his body around in a clockwise spin, bringing his sword around to bear. His blade slung through the air, trailing behind a vivid streak of charged electricity before it tore through the dragon's unarmored gut. Sorey leapt back as the dragon collapsed forward onto its hands, clutching his injured stomach, his eyes flaring a florescent yellow as he forced all the mana in his control into his sword. "Howling blade…"

"BOLT TEMPEST!"

He thrust his sword into the dragon's exposed shoulder, eliciting a terrific screech of agony. Before the dragon could retaliate, he opened his mouth and roared as he expended all of the power in his possession in one fell swoop and, with all his might, pushed up.

BANG!

An explosion of silver flames laced with bolts of erratic electricity lit up the foothills for miles around, engulfing the body of the Dragonnewt as it was tossed backwards by the sheer force of the Shepherd's mystic arte, falling back onto the land like a crashing meteor while spewing stray plumes of silver flame across the grassy hill. Explosions rang out as the dragon jerked and writhed on the spot, the holy magic of the Shepherd thoroughly cleansing the former seraph's body.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the flames died down.

The crackling of electricity halted, and the roaring of the dragon ceased, leaving only a bizarre silence in the wake of the chaos. Sorey eventually managed to discern a much smaller, humanoid form lying unconscious on the patch of grass where the dragon had fallen and heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Then, like a sack of potatoes, he collapsed onto the grass.

He groaned at length, covering his eyes as he slowly caught his breath, exhausted with everything. Despite all of it… the aching of his body, the sweat drenching his clothing, and the uncontrollable reeling of his emotions… as he laid there on his back panting like a dog, all Sorey could think of as he laid there in the cold grass was how much he regretted going out alone that night.

High up above, the looming mountains continued to watch, as did the lone figure standing in their midst; ever silent and ever present in the churning darkness.

---
​

"…Lailah. You're doing it again."

"Huh?! No…! But I thought…"

"Careful, Lailah!" a different voice yelled. "They're going to catch on fire!"

"Yep." someone else agreed dully. "Everyone better watch out. For like, the billionth time."

"Tch." yet another different person muttered. "…The hell kind of Prime Lord can't even cook her own eggs without setting them on fire?"

"Dezel!" someone else hissed reproachfully.

Lailah's rage was evident in her low, trembling voice. "Well. You should be careful then!" she snapped. "Who knows what I might end up setting on fire next? Or who, even…"

An audible gulp and a marked silence followed that threat.

It was Edna's voice that spoke up next. "Hey. It's gonna blow."

"Huh?!" Lailah gasped. "NO-!"

BANG!

All fleeting traces of rest in the wake of the exhausting battle with the Dragonnewt last night were instantly swept away by a deafening explosion that sent Sorey rolling around in a panic while wrapped up in his sleeping roll. Coming to a halt and blinking blearily, he slowly registered the sun above him, shining brightly amidst brilliant blue skies just above the peaks of the nearby mountain range.

"You let your guard down and let yourself get distracted." Velvet's low and distinctive voice drew his attention back down to the group, gathered around the center of camp. "And because of that, you went ahead and forgot about what mattered most at a crucial moment." she continued, lecturing Lailah with her arms crossed. "Cooking requires many things, and what those things are vary depending on what it is you're trying to make at the time, but one thing that it always demands is attention."

The resonant traveler glanced to the side. "Mikleo." she said calmly, standing before the leaping flames of the campfire – and the pan on top of it – that remained from the recent explosion. "Put it out."

"R-right!" he affirmed hastily as he quickly scrambled to his feet, having dove to the ground for cover the moment Lailah's pan of eggs had exploded. The pan cropped up on a makeshift rock stove atop the campfire hissed pitifully as Mikleo doused it for the umpteenth time with a deluge of water mana, the liquid mixing with the burnt remains of eggs smoldering within.

As the fire quickly puttered out before her, Lailah bobbed her head ashamedly, staring sadly at the spatula in her hand. "…You're right, Velvet. As always, you're right." She sighed hopelessly. "Oh, how will I ever become even remotely decent at cooking when I can't even fry a batch of eggs correctly?"

Velvet shrugged. "You might never be able to." she admitted blandly to Lailah's utter dismay, causing her to hang her head even lower. Velvet raised an expectant eyebrow, crossing her arms. "But sitting around and moping about it sure won't help your chances. If you want to give up, I won't stop you. But if you truly want to learn how to cook properly, then don't let failure get in your way. It's your choice."

Lailah blinked as her head jerked back up, staring back at the other woman dumbly before understanding finally dawned on her. "I understand." she nodded slowly, resolve creeping back into her expression. "…Thank you, Velvet." she intoned.

Sorey watched with a smile on his face as Lailah once more sat down before the pan, a furious sort of determination etched on her expression as she took up the spatula once more. Velvet stood over her shoulder in all her boundless patience, giving her surprisingly gentle tips here and there as she began a fresh batch of eggs on a new pan. He was amused to also see Rose sitting close by, chewing on a… rather burnt set of eggs, grimacing with each bite. Dezel had taken to watching the spectacle from a distance, all the while radiating disapproval. As for Edna…

"I give her five more minutes before she sets off a grassfire."

Sorey jolted in surprise as he found Edna coming to a halt beside him, her umbrella now being used to shield herself from the hot sun. His face broke into a grin as he looked back over at Lailah and Velvet while resting his arm on his folded knee underneath his sleeping roll. "Then it's a good thing we have Mikleo at the ready to help put it out." he replied optimistically.

Sure enough, Mikleo was standing fully at the ready beside the campfire, his staff already in hand in the case of further inevitable 'study-incidents.' his focus upon Lailah's cooking was so intense that it was almost comical.

Edna rolled her eyes. "Such a brave, handsome seraph." she drawled. "I feel safer already with him under Velvet's thumb."

"…Oh." Sorey chuckled nervously. "I see."

After a pause, the earth seraph abruptly pivoted on her boots, turning to face Sorey directly. "You're normally bouncing awake like a puppy." Edna observed concisely, frowning. "Something's bothering you. Something big."

He fought hard to maintain an innocent expression in response to her words. Collecting his thoughts, he carefully shook his head. "Thanks for worrying about me, Edna." he said gratefully. "I just didn't manage to sleep to well last night for some reason. That's all."

Her frown didn't budge an inch. Somehow, Sorey didn't think that his lie had gone over that well.

Hastily, he pushed himself out of his sleeping roll and stood up, inadvertently breaking into a tired yawn as he did so. "I… should go check to see if Lailah needs any help." he supposed casually, making sure to avoid Edna's creeping eyes that he could feel staring at the back of his neck.

"Yeah. You should." Edna's words were dry. "Well? Go on."

Sighing, Sorey nodded and walked off, leaving her standing there beside his empty sleeping roll with her frown decidedly in place. He shook his head to himself, kicking himself internally for the lie. But still, the Shepherd still felt an obligation to keep his irregular night excursions with the mysterious hellion a secret.

…Even after what had happened last night.

His teeth gritted. With a significant effort, he forced himself to mentally disconnect from the uncertainty in his mind and instead focused on Velvet, Lailah, and Mikleo gathered there before the campfire.

"Mornin' guys." he greeted lightly, meeting everyone's eyes as he approached.

Velvet barely spared him a glance, her full attention on guiding Lailah's hand as she helped her carefully scrape the sizzling egg from the bottom of the pan. "You're up." she greeted without looking. "Good. That burnt pan needs to be scrubbed clean before it's put away. Go wash it in the stream."

Mikleo subtly shifted to Sorey's side, whispering lowly, "You'd better do it quick." he warned. "She's been in a sour mood this whole morning for some reason. You really don't want to know what happened to-"

"Sorey."

Velvet's tone was tinged with a foreboding tinge of impatience.

"Y-yes ma'am!" Wisely heeding his friend's advice, Sorey bobbed his head readily and quickly snatched the burnt pan from the ground before turning around, exchanging a look with Mikleo before hightailing it away from danger as soon as possible.

Velvet herself was laser-focused on her current task; her brow furrowed as she once more moved her hand to adjust Lailah's arm. "You have to be gentler." she berated calmly. "You do that too much, the yolk spills out onto the pan."

Lailah nodded; her face scrunched in deep, deep concentration. "I shall get this one right." she maintained. "This batch will be perfect."

Off to the side, Rose started coughing vigorously, silently making ever more disgusted faces as she tossed a rather large patch of egg that was burnt to the point of being inedible off her plate. Standing behind her, Dezel made it a point to stomp the scrap of egg into the dirt, ensuring no local wildlife could possibly poison themselves inadvertently by eating it.

Watching all of this unfold from afar, Edna quietly turned around, instead staring up at the vast mountain range towering over them all. She let out a quiet sigh, mutely spinning her umbrella.

The sun had risen to its highest point in the sky by the time the group had finally gotten back onto the path, resuming their approach towards the entrance to the Cambria Caverns. Together the group trotted up the dirt path that meandered vaguely up the foothills, weaving left and right and dodging large boulders and dead trees that were increasingly common the closer they approached the mountains. Their leather packs creaked alongside the jangling of their weapons with each rhythmic step they took up the hill, the sounds of constant travel accompanied by the trees and foliage blowing in the powerful breeze that blew parallel to the mountains themselves. Trotting alone at the head of the group, Sorey found he had no other choice but to give in to the dark thoughts that had been hounding his mind ever since he'd woken as he walked amidst the companionable silence.

The screams of that seraph had haunted him long after he'd fallen asleep last night – he would never forget them. The abject horror, the repulsion of a seraph becoming wholly and entirely corrupted by malevolence. The miasma of humanity's sin; the poison upon which monsters called hellions were born of and thrived upon.

He subtly glanced over his shoulder, his jaw set. To think that Mikleo could also one day be subjected to the horrific fate… his mind turned grim, and he stared contemplatively at the seraph in question, currently having a quiet discussion with Rose. It was one thing to know of the concept in abstraction, but an entirely different thing to see it happen firsthand. To think that all of the seraphim he knew could also possibly suffer that fate. Edna, Lailah, Dezel, Gramps, and everyone else back home. Everyone he knew and everyone he'd been born and raised by. Gone; forced to turn into a horde of mindless beasts. Just like that.

By the merciless claw of a hellion that he'd thought was different.

He shook his head, gritting his teeth. If he hadn't been there when that seraph had been turned into a dragon, there might've never been hope for him. Sorey had taken down Drakes. He had taken down Dragonnewts. But there was no way he could take on a fully-grown dragon. And even if he was strong enough, no Shepherd in history had ever been able to restore a full-fledged dragon back into a pure-hearted seraph. He had promised Edna that one day he would find a way to do so for her brother's sake, but… he was still far, far from ever accomplishing such a thing at this point. Regardless, the masked hellion's intentions had been clear last night. It had been a test, and one that he had clearly failed.

But a test, to accomplish what, exactly? Exactly what did that hellion seek from him?

He shook his head, absently tensing his legs and hopping across a small ditch in the terrain as he continued to walk. From what he had learned from the seraph that he'd purified last night after the fight, the hellion had kidnapped the completely innocent seraph out of nowhere, then used him. A living, thinking being, reduced to nothing more than bait. A seraph whom had been dwelling upon this land for countless years, in one single moment reduced to a tool to be used and tossed aside.

Fury filled his features as he tried his damndest to comprehend such a despicable act. And to think! He still, after all this time, didn't even know what it wanted from him!

"SOREY!"

CRASH!

Velvet's cry of alarm had preceded her charging forward and tackling him forward just in time to save him from being crushed underneath a massive boulder that had inexplicably fallen from the hills above. The two of them crashed harshly onto the dirt on the other side of the boulder, coughing amidst the plume of disturbed dirt and scattered shrapnel that had accompanied the its fall.

She swore, roughly disentangling herself from the travelling pack on her back and tossing it to the side in favor of having freedom of movement as she stood back up into a fighting stance. "Get your head out of the clouds!" she ordered harshly, keeping her eyes fixed on the hazy image of the boulder that had begun to move by itself.

Sorey shook his head harshly and forced himself to follow her advice, also leaving his pack on the sidelines as he got up, drawing his sword and standing alongside Velvet as they faced off against the intruding hellion. His eyes widened, his sword slacking momentarily in shock as he registered just what exactly they were facing. "That's … a stone golem?!" He gaped up as the huge boulder before him slowly stood up, lumbering around on what quickly discernable as massive limbs made of individual large boulders digging deeply into the dirt below.

"Sorey! Velvet!" Rose's worried call had come from beyond the golem.

He responded by yelling, "We're alright! Get ready to fight; this one's gonna be tough!"

"SHEPHERD!"

A flash of green exploded before Sorey, announcing the arrival of Dezel as he abruptly appeared before him and Velvet with a ferocious jagged grin on his face.

"Dezel?!" Sorey exclaimed.

"I'm done playing around." the wind seraph declared darkly. "You gave me the power of the Armatus, and now it's finally time for me to use it."

The Shepherd's jaw set as he squared off against the wind seraph. "Easy, Dezel." he warned lowly. "I told you when you first joined us. You're part of a team." he reminded the wind seraph while keeping the slowly lumbering giant in his peripheral vision. "I won't have you going around being a lone wolf on my watch."

In response, the wind seraph sneered. "I don't need your permission." he turned around, putting his back to the Shepherd with crossed arms. "I said I was done playing around, and I meant it."

With that, he vanished once more in a burst of green mana, leaving Sorey and Velvet alone facing off against the lumbering giant that had turned its attention fully upon them. He shook his head in frustration, exchanging glances with the woman at his side. "…This doesn't bode well." he muttered, readjusting the grip on his sword.

Velvet's lips were drawn in a thin line as she too readied her own gauntlet blade, staring up at the stone behemoth before them. "…Its movements are slow and predictable." she noted. "Don't get caught up in anything, and keep moving."

"Right." Sorey took a deep breath as the giant's massive boulder-fist rose up high in the air above them, ready to crash down and smash them into bloody paste.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Both Sorey and Velvet instinctively dove out of the way as giant whips of pure wind mana sheared through the golem's body, tossing debris and chunks of its body every which way in the air to tumble harshly onto the surrounding ground. Suddenly, shooting through the thick plume of dust inundating the surrounding the area emerged a flying holy angel adorned with blades of neon green wings floating on her back.

Clad in flowing garb of white and green, Rose let out a battle cry as she twisted around, jerking her armatized body to a halt floating a few feet above the ground. Her expression fierce and determined, she flew backwards a few paces, the blades of mana on her back angling themselves in a mesmerizing fashion as the mana began to pool in overwhelming amounts. When she shouted the name of her technique, her voice was intermingled with Dezel's as the two of them attacked.

"DARK STAR!" they roared. as one

BANG!

With a blinding flash, a pulse of wind mana detonated behind Rose, catapulting her forward at a blinding pace. Her trajectory sent her right through the monster's left arm, slicing it clean in half and sending it tumbling down to the ground with a thunderous boom. Angling herself around, Rose banked back around in a graceful arc straight back to the ground beside Sorey and Velvet, sliding to a stop atop the dirt with barely a hitch.

"So… this is the power of the Armatus!" Dezel's voice rang out in the minds of those nearby, his glee clearly evident in his tone. "Come on, Rose! Let's finish this!"

Rose blinked, suddenly indecisive as her body began twitching on its own. "H-huh?! Wait, Dezel-!"

Both were interrupted as Rose's legs were abruptly swept out from under her, causing her to crash down onto her back, the wings of the armatus splayed out awkwardly underneath her. She blinked in confusion, staring up at Velvet standing over her in a combat stance. "Velvet…?" she mumbled.

Her eyes were hard. "Anymore and you'll kill the hellion." she jerked her head over her shoulder towards the crumbled heap of the golem in the center of the battlefield. "Dezel's driving you too far. Cut yourself off from the Armatus, now." she ordered roughly.

"A-alright." Rose agreed hesitantly, closing her eyes and focusing.

With a flash of white, her brilliant flared clothing returned to her normal travelling outfit, leaving her lying there winded on the floor while Dezel appeared outside of her, silently adjusting the top hat on his head. "…Hmph." the rogue wind seraph exhaled lowly. "You're all so damn soft."

"I will smite evil!"

FWOOM!

Together, the three of them turned and watched as the golem was engulfed in encroaching silver flames, directed and coordinated by Sorey's practiced hand as he stood before the massive fallen hellion. Soon, the flames faded into the afternoon air, leaving behind an unconscious bear lying in amidst the displaced dirt with small embers of silver flame clutching onto its fur.

"Sorey!"

Now unimpeded, Mikleo jogged up to the Shepherd standing before the bear in the wake of the battle with Lailah and Edna right behind him.

Lailah intertwined her hands worriedly. "Are you all alright?!" she implored. "You and Velvet disappeared so quickly, and then Dezel armatized with Rose and flew away…!"

Sorey shook his head, a decidedly serious expression on his face. "I'm alright. Thanks guys."

Slowly, he turned around, his eyes falling upon the reckless seraph that had almost gotten out of hand. "…Dezel." he began lowly as he walked over to him, Velvet, and Rose. "I know your intentions are to kill the person who you seek revenge from. We all knew this when we let you into this group. That is your business and none of ours, and we agreed on that, as long as you didn't cause trouble."

He crossed his arms. "Because of that, I'm telling you that I won't stand for you risking all of our lives over a taste of power like you did just now!"

Dezel had heard enough. "Or else what?" he sneered, taking an aggressive step forward. With his height and hat the wind seraph towered over the Shepherd, allowing him to sneer down at the young man with disdain. "

You'll leave me in the wild without my vessel? Let me become a dragon and slaughter the nearest town of humans?" he scoffed derisively. The way I see it, there's pretty much nothing you can do to stop me from doing what I want, short of killing me." He growled, leaning down lowly towards Sorey's face with a jagged smirk. "Wouldn't want that on your conscience now though, would you?"

Sorey's jaw was set as he stared wordlessly back at Dezel, his fists curled up at his sides. The seraph's words had hit their mark. It was all true; he had his hands tied in this case. Not that it made him feel any better about the current situation.

Inexplicably, his thoughts turned to last night. The acute sensation of helplessness in the wake of his indecision. His teeth gritted as he attempted to find a solution, only to come up empty-handed.

"He can't kill you. But I can."

Dezel grunted as he straightened up, turning around as Velvet stepped forward with her arms crossed, her eyes cold and hard. "If you risk my life or the other's lives again, I'll happily take you down, regardless of how Sorey feels about it." she warned dangerously. "You can bet your life on that, here and now if you'd like."

"…Velvet." Sorey spoke up warningly. "I told you-"

The hardened woman fisted her left hand in front of her chest before tossing it roughly to the side. "If it means keeping the others safe from a rogue seraph too busy letting his new powers go to his head, I'll happily part ways with you." She glared at Dezel; distaste clear in her expression. "Don't worry." she reassured the seraph coldly. "I know how to get things done when they need to be."

Sorey's jaw tightened at that statement.

Dezel's jagged teeth gritted in frustration as he stared back at the impudent woman. "…Just who do you think-"

"Everyone just chill out already!"

Rose yelled as she stepped between them all, her arms raised as if to stop any physical blows before they occurred. "You're all getting way too worked up over all of this!" She glanced between Velvet, Sorey, and Dezel and reasoned, "At the end of the day, nobody actually got hurt. Everything ended pretty sweetly just now, and I'd call that a win."

She turned and interrupted Sorey who had been about to speak. "Yeah, I get how Dezel's actions were dangerous," she conceded, "but the thing is he's only just getting used to the Armatus. I'd say we give him a break and let him off with just a warning this time. Hell, I even nearly went overboard the first time I tried armitization with Lailah. So… yeah!"

She smiled disarmingly, gesturing to everyone nearby. "Why don't we all let sleeping dogs lie? Besides," she added, "the armatus only works when the human involved is cooperating with the seraph. If he goes overboard again, I'll just reign him back in next time. Simple, right?" she finished reasonably.

Sorey and Velvet exchanged a dark glance at that, both thinking the exact same thing.

If only that were truly the case.

"Tch."

The hatted wind seraph heaved a sigh and turned away from them, readjusting the hat on his head in the process. "It wasn't like I was going to kill that innocent animal, anyways." he claimed. "I'm not some human, selfishly killing animals for sport." He paused.

"…Regardless, I'll promise to listen to what you say next time." he muttered lowly. "Deal?"

"Deal." Sorey nodded, letting his face relax into a small smile. "Thanks, Dezel."

The wind seraph didn't say anything in response, instead choosing to vanish in a ball of green mana to return back inside Sorey. Clearly, he wasn't in the mood to look at any of them at the moment.

After a tense pause, Rose let out a huge pent-up breath. "Whew!" she breathed. "Glad that's over with." She glanced around at everyone. "…Alright, come on, guys, let's get a move on! I'm tired of standing under the sun and not moving."

Lailah made it a point to agree wholeheartedly. "Indeed. We shouldn't be far at all from the entrance to the caverns according to the map. It would be prudent to make up for lost time today."

"Alright." Sorey nodded slowly, exchanging one more glance with Velvet before turning around. "Let's go, guys."

"Right behind you." Edna agreed.

Together, the Shepherd's group one more resumed their hike up the foothills underneath the heavy heat of the afternoon sun, leaving the unconscious newly purified bear alone in the wilderness in their wake.

---
​

"Boss!"

The shouted greeting broke the haunting silence and echoed down and down the damp, dark caverns, reverberating off the ominous teeth-like stalagmites and stalactites heavily populating the floor and ceiling of the tunnels.

Rose's face broke into a great big grin as she recognized the two people clothed in the leather tunics of assassins waiting up ahead with a lantern shining brightly in the abject darkness. "Felice! Talfryn!" she greeted, breaking into a jog through the rocky cavern towards her the two members of the Scattered Bones. The rest of the group followed her not too far behind, with Sorey and Velvet carrying their own lit lanterns.

The two redheaded twins gave her a warm grin as their leader came to a halt before them. Talfryn waved, getting down to business. "Alright. Just as you've asked, we've scouted up ahead to find the best route through the caverns as possible to get you all through to Biroclef Ridge, based on the best information we could get from the townsfolk at Lastonbell."

Felice nodded, reaching inside one of the zippered pockets of her assassin's uniform and pulling out a neatly folded sketch of the area. "Just as rumored, it's extremely confusing. The best way we could find was through this route there. It's pretty fresh information since we scouted this morning, so hopefully it'll be accurate enough to get you all through this place."

Sorey and the rest of the group trotted up curiously, standing beside Rose and examining the confusing-looking map in Felice's hands. "This is all because of the rumors surrounding these caverns, right?"

Rose crossed her arms and nodded easily. "Yep. That's why I sent two of our best to come over here and grab some intel for us ahead of time."

Talfryn cupped his chin thoughtfully. "From what we could tell, they're also mostly true. These caverns have an infamous reputation for constantly, and I mean constantly shifting due to small, localized earthquakes that frequently cause paths to cave in entirely at the same time other routes open up."

Felice grinned devilishly. "We didn't see any ghosts though, so I wouldn't worry about those rumors." she added.

Velvet raised an amused eyebrow at Rose whom had immediately flinched at Felice's words. "Relax. You're the Shepherd's squire now." she pointed out. "Any ghost hellions we might find in there will be trivial to deal with."

Rose blinked at her dumbly. "…Ghost hellions?! Argh!" Rose shut her eyes and groaned. "Why doesn't anyone tell me this sorta stuff beforehand?" she pouted.

Edna switched shoulders to rest her unopened umbrella on idly. "Ready to quit now?" she asked calmly. "The exit's right behind us. Leaving now would provide you with a total of one hundred, seventy-three hours and thirty-five minutes as a Shepherd's squire."

Rose's eye twitched. "You've been counting?!"

Meanwhile, Sorey had taken the folded-up map from Felice and was carefully examining it with Mikleo at his side. He hummed thoughtfully. "It doesn't look that bad, actually." he remarked. "There's a few turns here and there, but it looks relatively straightforward to get from one side to the other." He glanced up at the twin assassins with a thankful grin. "Thanks for the help, guys!"

Talfryn waved it off easily. "Not a problem. The Boss calls and we do our best to deliver. Sucks for you guys that the landslide at Biroclef Ridge hasn't been cleared up yet. You wouldn't have to deal with all this, otherwise."

Felice trotted up to Velvet and handed her another folded-up piece of paper. "A back-up," she explained, "in case something happens."

"Thanks." Velvet nodded gratefully as she pocketed the map. "How's the search for the new hideout going?"

The redhead assassin shrugged. "We've got a few places on the list, but nothing for sure, yet. But business as the Sparrowfeathers is really taking a turn for the better, what with the Boss's new recipe making the rounds."

Velvet raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what recipe is that?"

Felice grinned back at her. "Mabo curry buns." she announced proudly.

"…Mabo…?"

"Curry. Buns." Felice enunciated. "Believe it or not, they've been a huge hit!"

Velvet blinked a few more times before shaking her head. "I guess I'll have to try some when we get back to town." she supposed. A thought occurred to her as she glanced between the two twins in the dim lamplight. "I don't suppose your newfound success has in turn made it easier for you all to get into places where normal people couldn't, has it?"

Felice's eyes shone in the dim light as she held Velvet's gaze. "Observant." she remarked brightly. "Just the sort of insightfulness that we'd be able to make use of in the Scattered Bones."

She shifted on her feet, crossing her arms together. "What with all the other skills you've been showing off lately, well. It's just really been convincing me more and more that you'd fit in just well with us." she admitted. "With the Boss's consent, of course."

Velvet blinked before she shook her head appreciatively. "…I'll just stick to trying what food you people come up with, thanks."

The assassin shrugged. "And we'll always appreciate another loyal customer." she replied easily. "Just lemme know if you change your mind."

Velvet nodded in return.

With that, the two of them turned around and walked back over to group, all of whom were currently finalizing their game plan for navigating the treacherous path ahead. Sorey was currently showing the rest of the seraphim and Rose the map that would lead them through the caverns.

"And that's where the exit is." he finished, tapping the dot at the southern end of the sketch with finality. "We'll need to be pretty careful to not get tricked at any of the junctions though, just in case the cave has shifted in-between the time the map was written and the time we get there."

Mikleo had a hand cupping his chin in thought. "We could theoretically make a few detours on purpose, given the presence of any intriguing stone features or wildlife inhabiting the tunnels. There may be a possibility that we could uncover some large natural caves around here that could be preserving ancient bones or artefacts that we'd never be able to find elsewhere."

Sorey's eyes gleamed at the notion. "That'd be so cool!" he exclaimed. "Just one more thing to add to your book, huh?"

"Or yours. If you find it first." Mikleo shot back with a smirk. "I'm nothing if not an honest explorer. Credit where credit is due."

"So it's a race, huh?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

"I'll tell you why not." Rose abruptly butted in between the two of them, a severely grouchy expression on her face. "These caves are dark, dingy, and, if what I'm hearing is right, probably haunted." she grumbled sourly. "I vote against the whole silly stumbling-in-the-dark-for-a-few-pieces-of-rocks idea, and I'll kick the ass of anybody who does." She glared at both Sorey and Mikleo, daring them to say otherwise.

Lailah giggled, stepping forward with her hands intertwined in front of her dress. "Perhaps it would be best to leave the academic studies for later, Sorey, Mikleo." she supposed reasonably. "There will always be another time to return to these caves."

"Heh, fine Rose, you win." Sorey conceded, turning to Mikleo and patting him on the back. "It's fine, Mikleo. You're still in the lead, anyways."

Together, the group turned to face Felice and Talfryn whom were watching the exchange with amused expressions. It must've been especially interesting to spectate upon a conversation between humans and seraphim, whom they couldn't see. Regardless, Sorey stepped up and gave the two of them a thankful bow. "I really appreciate your guys' help. Thanks."

The two twins nodded back as they started to pack up, hefting their backpacks onto their backs. "Not a problem." Talfryn reassured, picking up their lantern from the ground.

Before they left, Felice turned to Rose with a business-like expression. "Boss. There's one more thing. That Romano Firm looks legit on paper, but after some digging turns out it's about as shady as it gets."

Talfryn nodded. "That's right. More than 30 reported bankrupt families in just the last few months alone. The firm confiscates all the families' property and takes it as their own." He shook his head. "And as for what happens to those broken families… Well, that's really anyone's guess, as no one ever hears from them again."

Rose crossed her arms, furrowing her brow. "…There's gotta be a legal pitfall somewhere." she muttered. After a pause, her eyes raised up to meet the twins. "Have squads 2 and 4 back you guys up. Keep on checking out the Firm and its surroundings." She shifted her body weight, putting a hand on her hip. "I'll leave it up to you two."

"Yes boss." Talfryn nodded once more.

With that conversation finished, Talfryn and Felice turned and headed right off, walking at a brisk travelling pace past the group and out towards the distant entrance to the Cambria Caverns with purpose in their step. The rest of the group watched them leave before turning back to Rose as she stretched her limbs, getting herself ready for the long journey ahead. "Alright gang, let's head out!" she chirped, setting off into the darkness with her lantern held high up above her.

Sorey and Mikleo exchanged impressed glances as the followed suit, the rest of the group right behind them. Behind them all, Velvet and Dezel stood in the flickering light of the former's lantern.

Quietly adjusting the top hat on his head, Dezel chuckled under his breath. "…That's my Rose." he breathed.

Velvet crossed her arms at that, giving the wind seraph a slow, careful look-over with her lips pursed. All around them, the oppressive, musty cave air drifted in the windless cavern, lazily playing with the fickle flame present within the lantern's receptacle.

"…You really care for her, don't you?" she remarked quietly.

He glanced at her, instantly hardening his expression. "What's it to you?" he challenged.

Velvet shifted on her feet, resting a hand on her hip. "Does she matter to you more than your revenge?" she posed the question bluntly.

His jagged teeth glinted in the light of the flickering lantern as he bared them at her. "Of course not." he growled.

"If it weren't for the person I want to kill, Rose would have been far better off. The Windriders would still exist. …But most importantly, this burning hatred in my heart wouldn't have ever formed." He glanced away, towards where the Shepherd's group had gone. "Regardless of whether I care about Rose, one thing is for sure. Nothing is more important to me than my thirst for vengeance."

He stared at her directly, challengingly. "I'll sacrifice whatever I have to if it means seeing it through." he stated with crushing finality.

Velvet held his stare, her lips pursed.

"…Then you should decide for sure." she stated quietly. "You should decide not just the kind of lengths you'll go about to achieve what you want, but what you actually want in the first place." The flame dancing in the lantern held in her hand cast haunting shadows upon the cavern wall behind her, silhouetting her figure in distinctive, harsh figures. "If you don't, you'll only find yourself doing things you'll end up regretting."

Dezel took a step forward, his gloved hand curled up into tight fists. "And how exactly do you know all this?" he asked roughly. "Just what is it about you that makes you butt into my personal matters?"

Velvet sighed, giving him an annoyed look that for some inexplicable reason caused him to stop talking. "I told you before, didn't I?" She spun on her heel, turning her back to the seraph and walking down the path in the Shepherd's steps. "I'm only talking from experience."

With that she left the seraph standing there in the quickly encroaching darkness, pondering her words as the light began to fade away from view.

---
​

Velvet let out a sigh of annoyance, glaring at her surroundings as she got back to her feet.

Stray displaced pebbles were still tumbling down the crater above her head, cackling as they bounced through the dust-filled air to crash onto the floor beside her. The remnants of the earthquake could still be felt thrumming through the floor, inducing an ominous rumble that echoed through the darkened labyrinth of caves and bounced off the vaulted ceiling of the massive cave that she now stood in; one big enough that the feeble light of her lantern couldn't even hope to fully illuminate.

She blinked in surprise as she registered that the strangely colored parts of the cavern floor weren't made of rock at all, but rather of water. For she was currently standing upon the shores of a massive underground lake that extended endlessly into the darkened void. It was a haunting sight.

"Ngh…"

Velvet blinked, turning herself and her lantern to find that she hadn't been the only one to suffer the misfortune of being separated from the group during the earthquake. "Rose." she said, quickly walking over to the fallen assassin's body.

At the sound of her name, Rose's eyes flew open as she pushed herself up on her hands, blinking rapidly in confusion at her surroundings. "…Velvet?" asked blearily as the other woman knelt before her and began looking her over for injuries. "Where… are we? What the heck happened?"

Having not found any evidence of any major wounds, Velvet stood back up, gesturing up at the newly opened hole in the ceiling of the cave above them. "Bad luck, from the look of things." she stated simply.

Clarity coming to Rose's eyes, the assassin froze. "…Please don't tell me we're cut off from the others."

"Alright then." Velvet replied dryly. "I won't."

Rose gave her a sour look in response. "Gee, thanks." She sighed, gingerly getting to her feet and testing her limbs with the nuance of a woman whom had taken many falls in her lifetime. "…I guess we should be counting ourselves lucky that we're both not hurt." she supposed.

"Yeah." Velvet turned around and raised her lantern, gazing out into the darkened void of the eerily still waters. "Except now we're here, alone."

The sound of leather boots crunching on the dirt below echoed off the chamber-like walls of the cave as Rose stood up, looking around with wide eyes. "…Well, it's a cool-looking place, at least." she remarked taking in the sight of the otherworldly underground lake. "Say. You still have the map that Felice gave you earlier?" she prompted.

Velvet blinked. "Right…" She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the scrap of paper that she had forgotten, unfolding the paper underneath the flickering light of her lantern with a frown.

Coming to stand beside her, Rose swiftly pointed to one of the points of the sketched map. "That's where we fell through." she stated matter-of-factly. "I remember us being in the tunnels curving just like that before the quake."

Trusting in her words, Velvet furrowed her brow. "We should keep an eye out for any tunnels with features similar to the ones on this map. If we do, we'll know where we are in relation to the exit." She wordlessly folded the map back up and handed it to the assassin. "Felice's map should be a big help in getting us out."

"Sounds like a plan." Rose agreed readily, accepting the map from Velvet and pocketing it. She sighed, putting her hands on her hips and looking around, examining the lake and the dead-end patch of earth they were currently standing upon. "I guess we ought to get ready for a swim… hmm?" She blinked, stepping closer to the waters with a keen eye. "Huh."

With careful, ginger movements, she moved one of her boots over the water. Suddenly, she kicked her boot straight down and into the water, inducing a loud splash that echoed deafeningly through the cave.

"…Ah-hah!" she cawed victoriously as the sound faded.

"What's wrong?" Velvet walked up to Rose, raising an eyebrow at her strange actions.

Rose turned and grinned back. "Watch."

She then proceeded to walk backwards, straight into the waters without a care in the world. Yet, against all odds, she didn't appear to sink any lower, instead appearing to stand just underneath the surface of the water. "Looks like we're in luck." she grinned.

Velvet crossed her arms, intrigued. "A natural pathway?" she gathered.

"Strong enough to hold our weight, too." Rose nodded happily. "Pretty neat, huh?"

"Useful." Velvet remarked, herself dipping her steel boots into the water and finding appropriate resistance with the water barely reaching her ankles. "I'll take point."

"Fine by me."

Together, the two lost travelers began their journey through the vast underground lake, surrounded by nothing but darkness and the echoing sounds of their own steps forward. Velvet maintained a steady pace forward while continuously staying vigilant to any changes to the underwater path that she was following by the light of the lantern in her left hand. Rose followed close behind, trusting Velvet's actions and instead focusing on the darkness surrounding them, looking for any breaks in the walls of the cavern signaling an exit.

As the trudging of their boots through water continued to echo off the surrounding walls, Rose abruptly shuddered. "Ugh." she groaned. "This is so giving me the creeps."

The therion's eyes flitted briefly towards her before returning to her task. "What's creepy about this?"

Rose gave her an incredulous look. "Do you even have to ask that?! People always talk about how places like this are haunted, then you go and tell me that ghost hellions are an actual thing, and now here we are: two pretty young girls alone in the middle of abandoned-dingy-town, ripe for the picking!" she exclaimed.

"Well, you're not wrong." Velvet shrugged apathetically. "There's probably at least handful of ghost hellions watching us at this very moment, waiting for us to get close before they pounce upon their prey when we least expect it."

"Hey, you know, that's not exactly helping, Velvet." Rose grumbled, shuddering again.

Velvet abruptly came to halt in the water and turned to face Rose with a serious expression. "What's there to be afraid of?" she asked directly, waving a hand carelessly in the air. "You live in a world where you know the truth behind things like ghosts and seraphim. Anything we run into will be something that we can more than likely handle between the two of us." She put a hand on her hip. "Besides." she smirked dryly. "Only kids are scared of the dark."

Rose pouted, standing still while Velvet turned right back around and resumed her trek across the lake.

She abruptly sighed, shaking her head. "I guess if you put that way, it's not so bad..." She resumed her pace, jogging back up to catch up to Velvet. "But regardless, I'm still sticking as close to you as humanly possible!" she declared with finality.

Velvet huffed in amusement. "Do what you want."

The two returned to walking in companionable silence, maintaining the rhythm of walking through the shallow waters to wherever the path took them. After a few underwater dead ends and a few mishaps that had nearly sent one or the other tumbling into the water, the two of them finally discovered an opposite shore; one that also led to an opening in the wall of the cavern; an exit.

"Whew. What a relief!" Rose breathed as she finally stepped out of the waters and onto dry land, stretching her limbs. "I thought we'd be stuck down in this lake forever."

Velvet put a hand on her hip, briefly glancing over her shoulder at the black void of the lake they'd managed to travel before turning back forward and noting the subtle hints of fatigue in Rose's posture. "Time for a break?" she asked.

"Yes, please!"

It wasn't long before the two of them were leaning comfortably against the far wall of the cavern, not too far away from the water as they bit into the strips of dried meat that they had prepared in their packs. The silence of the lake, with the exception of the steady dripping of distant water, was a welcome change to the constant sound of sloshing water that had defined the past few hours.

After a while, Rose abruptly spoke up in a dramatically different, sober voice.

"By the way… I'm sorry about what happened to your brother." she offered quietly.

Velvet stopped chewing and turned her attention from the partially bitten strip of meat in her hand to Rose, who was looking at her with a soft expression. "I heard from Sorey." the assassin explained, playing with the strip of jerky in her hands. "About what happened, that is, and why you're still travelling with us."

Velvet stared at her own strip of jerky, her eyes growing distant. "It's in the past." she said absently. "Laphicet's… he's been gone for a long time now. You shouldn't be sorry."

"Then if you don't mind me asking…" Rose tilted her head and asked curiously, "What's it like? Having a little brother, that is." She shifted in her seat to a more comfortable position. "It's just… something I've always wondered about." she explained.

"I take it you never had one?" Velvet asked back.

The assassin shook her head. "I grew up travelling with the others. Eguille helped looked after me and sorta became like a father to me, but I never really had anybody younger than me to take care of or anything like that."

"…Makes sense." Velvet nodded, biting into her jerky and chewing.

After a thoughtful silence, she swallowed and spoke. "Having a younger brother is, in one word, tiring." she said with soft smile creeping up into her expression.

Rose blinked. "Tiring…?"

"Yeah." Velvet nodded. "First, you have to deal with them not knowing anything about how the world works and having to walk them through it yourself. Then, when they're old enough, they think they have things figured out when of course they don't and start acting up on their own. They constantly give you one huge headache after another as you scurry around all worried for their safety and whatnot. It's enough to drive you up a wall on a daily basis."

She leaned her head back onto the cave wall, her expression nostalgic. "…That was my brother. The things that kid would do…" she smiled softly, staring out into the void. "Always trying to go off on adventures. Staying up far too late reading those books of his. Trying to fake taking his medicine and pretending to eat his vegetables…" she shook her head in exasperation.

Rose raised an eyebrow. "So, having a younger brother was… horrible?" she offered.

"No." Velvet's hand absently slipped into her coat, slowly bringing out a and holding handful of something amber tenderly in her left bandaged hand. "Actually, quite the opposite."

Rose's eyes were soft. The assassin stayed as still as possible, keenly observing a side to the enigmatic traveler that she had never seen before – a side of her that she was sure she wasn't going to see again anytime soon.

And then the moment passed.

The amber shards of the comb went back into Velvet's coat pocket and she resumed her meal, the softness fleeting from her face almost as quickly as it had arrived.

"…Tell me. How far would you be willing to go, Rose?" she asked inexplicably, looking out into the darkness with an unreadable expression. "How far would you go, if it meant doing something that you knew had to be done?"

Rose blinked in surprise at the abrupt change in topic. The irregular sound of water dripping in the distance punctuated the silence that followed the woman's peculiar inquiry.

Hesitantly, she considered the question. "To… do something that I knew had to be done, huh?" She pursed her lips. "…Well, I'd do everything I had to do." she promised. "Nothing more, and nothing less. That's always been who I am."

Velvet's expression didn't change. "Thought so."

"Why do you a…" Rose's eyes widened, her sentence all but forgotten. "Huh?!" She gasped, shooting to her feet in alarm.

"What's wrong?" Velvet got to her feet as well, following Rose's frozen gaze as she stared in terror towards the exit to the cave.

Except there was no exit there at all. All there was at that end of the cave was a solid, uninterrupted wall of hard rock. Nothing had changed around them at all except for the exit; it was as if the opening they had seen earlier had simply vanished into thin air.

Rose had begun to tremble. "V… Velvet? I'm not seeing things, am I?"

Velvet's eyes had narrowed. "Stay calm." she ordered lowly. "This isn't right."

Together, the two of them broke down their impromptu campsite and walked on over to where the cave's exit had been, Velvet at the front and Rose close behind. Carefully, her every sense on edge, Velvet lifted her bandaged hand in the air and, after a pause, pushed the hand onto the spot of rock where the exit had been.

Her hand pressed down upon the solid rock and stopped moving, clear as day.

Rose swore, whirling around and yelling into the cavern behind them. "Alright! To the smartass doing this to us, I'd like to let you know that this isn't funny!" she yelled angrily with a small strain of panic in her voice. "I'd like to get out of this place without starving to death, thanks!" her loud shouts pierced the quiet of the massive underground lake, echoing countless times until it finally faded away.

And then, to Rose's abject horror, something responded back.

"But of course." a young, disembodied feminine voice echoed back off the surrounding walls. "The show must always go on. For no play is complete without the actors." An utterly unsettling, malicious giggle followed the words, making every hair on Rose's neck stand up in abject terror.

The two of them whirled around as a loud warped noise resounded into the air, their eyes wide as they watched a completely different part of the cave wall vanish right into thin air and reveal another tunnel entrance. One that had definitely not been there before.

By her side, Velvet clicked her tongue in annoyance. "…Illusions. Damn." She glanced to the side at Rose's bewildered and none-too-terrified expression. "Stay alert." she warned. "Think twice about everything you see."

Rose nodded mutely. "I sure hope this is one of the things that the two of us can handle like you were saying earlier…" she muttered.

Together, the two of them, with no other alternative, stepped into the darkness of the newly appeared tunnel, their eyes wide and alert. They trudged onwards by the light of Velvet's single lantern, their eyes wary and their steps cautious as they climbed up the steeply inclining pathway. Every errant shadow seemed to want to jump out at them in the eerie silence at every turn, cast by the jagged features of the cave. Eventually, the single tunnel leveled out, offering an exit to the two lost travelers up ahead into a cloud of darkness. Velvet and Rose exchanged ready nods before both walking forward, steadily approaching the exit to the tunnel.

There, the thing that awaited them at the end of it all was nothing short of a nightmare.

It crawled awkwardly out of the shadows towards them, propped up by misshaped, unnaturally bent limbs. Limbs that seemed to have been torn off completely different creatures. It's pupil-less eyes glistened in the light of the flickering lantern, narrowing as it rumbled a distorted, ragged growl. A monster in the most visceral sense; an utter abomination constructed upon vast contradictions, self-destructive rage, and pure, unadulterated misery.

Velvet's eyes widened in horrid recognition, her fists furling inhumanly tightly at her sides. The memories caught in her brain like wildfire, flashes of a blue and green, and the feeling of drowning in darkness.

"What… is that?!"

Rose gaped in horror beside her with her jaw hanging slack. She stared up at the monster's silhouette, trying in vain to reconciliate it all into one being; strange chicken leg, the flaming lion's paws, the eel-head tail, the disgusting appendages of a bug dangling high over its misshapen body; it was all so… unnatural.

Beside her, Velvet's teeth were bared. "…You." she growled lowly. "You're not real."

Her steel boots clinked softly in the tense silence, punctuating the rising growls of the misshapen monster as she approached. Her eyes were fixed squarely upon the monster's sightless ones.

Rose blinked incredulously. "Velvet?! What are you-?"

She flinched back as the monster suddenly reared back and let out a violent bellow. One that was so incredibly strong it shook the very stones beneath and mimicked the quake that had collapsed the tunnels from before.

Velvet simply continued to walk forward, uncaring for the spittle flying in her face nor the whipping of her hair and jacket in the face of the monster's ire. "…You think this'll bother me?" She spat to the side, growling herself as she took a battle stance. "Don't make me laugh!" She lunged forward with an almost inhumane grace, her pupils dilating as she kicked her leg back.

"HEAVEN'S WRATH!"

Her steel boot curved in through the darkness like a silver arrow piercing the skies, slamming into the side of the abomination's head with inhuman strength, causing it to careen off to the side. She twisted around acrobatically, touching her left foot down letting the momentum carry her through a violent roundhouse kick with her other boot almost instantaneously following the first strike.

Both her boots touched off the ground for a second before she twisted around into a backflip, slashing the hidden blade on her boot and tearing a deep gouge in the breast of the monster and eliciting a twisted howl of agony. Crying out in fury and determination, Velvet twisted around once more and leapt into the air, sweeping both legs around in midair as she landed atop the monster's back, stabbing her hidden blade directly into the monster's spine. The beast squirmed and writhed in agony, flailing its limbs in self-destructive fury.

One of its bug-appendages managed to land a direct hit upon the woman on her back, flinging her bodily off of it to smash into the side of the cave with a bone-shattering crash. Her limp body promptly fell of the wall and collapsed within a cloud of dust, obscuring her from view.

Watching in utter astonishment, frozen in the moment with her blades held slack in her hands, Rose took a step forward. "Velvet!" she yelled. Her eyes widened as her shout drew the attention of the horrific monster, which turned slowly on its misshapen legs to face her. She swore, taking a step back with her blades raised. "Damnit!"

"You're defenseless!"

A blast of mana conjured by an arte flashed briefly and harmlessly through the air, followed the ringing sound of a gauntlet blade extending. Completely disregarding the blood flowing off her temple and running down the side of her face, Velvet contorted her face in mad, animalistic fury as she aimed her sword arm towards the back of the monster.

"SCALE CRUSHER!" she snarled, channeling it all.

BANG!

The dark cavern, which had until this point been illuminated by nothing but lantern light, was suddenly and violently pierced by blinding rays as Velvet's arte detonated. The blast of mana that had been cast through the air towards the monster ruptured and exploded in a blast of pure incendiary heat, easily penetrating the misshapen hide of her opponent and sending it sprawling forward.

Velvet gritted her teeth, quickly scrubbing the blood away from her right eye as she took a heavy step forward towards the fallen monster. That disgusting imitation of herself.

Despite it all, the beast managed placed its limbs on the ground and pushed, standing up on all fours once more. It slowly turned towards Velvet herself; trails of saliva mixed with blood dripping out of its open maw. The two slowly lumbered towards one another; two wounded beasts, both out for blood.

"LORD OF WATER!"

The cry of two simultaneous voices pierced the dark of the cavern, making Velvet freeze in her tracks and snap out of her deathly focus. She leapt back and out of the way as a bolt of jagged water mana slammed directly into the monster's chest, sending it reeling back.

"My bow is the heavens!" Sorey and Mikleo yelled, their armatized body lunging forward in an explosion of water mana while drawing back their bow arm. They shot through the air as if they themselves were an arrow; one made of holy white accented with azure and gold. "The vortex swallows you!" they yelled.

"AQUA LIMIT!"

CRASH!

The nocked arrow of water rammed directly into the monster's breast as the Shepherd tore through the monster in one fell swoop. Water splattered across the cave with the force of a storm as the remaining mana in the monster's skin detonated. Sliding to a stop with his heels digging into the dirt, Sorey glanced to the side at Velvet with clear concern in his glowing blue eyes. "Velvet-!"

"Focus on the threat!" Velvet yelled, cutting him off while keeping her own eyes fixed on the lumbering monster.

Rose ran up alongside them, her own body covered in a flowing white tunic emblazoned with the markings of an earth seraph. "I'm with her." The armatized squire agreed, hefting giant floating rock fists at her side. "This ain't over."

With flashes of green, the Shepherd's remaining seraphim appeared behind them all, taking out their own weapons in preparation for battle. Lailah fanned her casting cards, determination sculpting her expression. Dezel flexed his wrist, readying his pendulums. Together they stood -the Shepherd's group, facing off against the monster in the darkness as one.

And just like that, the monster froze in place.

The sound of clapping echoed through the cavern; omniscient without an obvious source. The group glanced around, wide-eyed as a maliciously enthusiastic voice resounded off the cave walls.

"Perfection!" the feminine voice drawled. "I couldn't have expected a better show, even from such talented actors!"

Dezel stood up in sudden, abject fury. "That… That voice!" he snarled.

"Who are you?!" Sorey yelled, glancing around warily. "Why are you doing this?"

An enthusiastic laugh echoed through the cavern. "…I have something for you, Shepherd." the voice revealed softly. "A token of your victory today, perhaps."

A wave of mana spread across the cave, causing the seraphim to shudder. Up ahead, the monster that had frozen in its steps abruptly unfroze, suddenly letting out pitiful whimpers and squeals as its body pulsed. Then, without a warning, the thing began to fade away, its dying noises replaced by only silence, its body being replaced by a simple glowing object on the floor where it had stood.

"Ever since the first man set foot in this hallowed world of ours, knowledge has been everything." the voice mused thoughtfully, her tone malicious and cold. "Knowledge rules our world, for with knowledge comes power."

The iris gem glowed brightly in the darkness, swirling with tainted mana that obscured the reality offered from within.

"For the truth begets hatred. Hatred begets action. And action… begets satisfaction." Another laugh resounded off the walls; this one filled with anticipation. "The Lord sends his regards, Shepherd. We will meet again soon."

With that, the illusions; all the illusions disappeared with a blink of an eye.

Light from the setting sun streamed in through the exit to the Cambria Caverns, blinding the group momentarily as they blinked in confusion, registering what had changed. The cavern in which they had battled the twisted monster was flooded with brightness, with exits to various tunnels all having spontaneously appeared, no longer being hidden by illusions. Outside, birds chirped while a crisp wind blew, whistling lowly as it entered the caverns through the exit.

And there, lying at the foot of the exit, still glowed the iris gem that had been "gifted" to the Shepherd, pulsating violet in the orange glow of the distant setting sun.

Dezel cursed, breaking into a sprint and tearing out into the open air, completely ignoring the iris gem in favor of shouting into the sky. "So you're just gonna run, huh?!" he roared. "Come back here and face me! COWARD!"

"D-Dezel?" Rose blinked in confusion, dispelling her armatus with Edna.

Sorey walked up behind her, Mikleo, Lailah, and Velvet right behind him. "Dezel, you know who that was?"

The wind seraph caught his breath, visibly collecting himself as he stood there before them all. "…That was the one I've been searching for all this time." he growled lowly. "The one I'm going to kill!" he snarled.

Sorey's eyes were wide. He opened his mouth. "Dezel." he began seriously. "Are you-?"

Dezel whirled around, cutting him off. "Am I sure that this is what I want to do this, huh?" he asked disdainfully. He shook his head, crossing his arms. "…I've made up my mind on what I am, and what I'm willing to do to accomplish what I want." he declared. He turned to face him directly, baring his teeth in a disdainful smirk.

"Unlike you." he sneered.

With that, the seraph disappeared once more in a flash of green back into his vessel, leaving the group standing there in silence. The wind picked up, blowing across the valley before them and causing the nearby clusters of alpine trees to wave in tandem with one another. The crisp fresh air was a drastic and welcome change to the musty, suffocating atmosphere of the caverns they had just left.

Setting his jaw with the thoughts running through his mind, Sorey shook his head and turned around, drawing the group's attention to his own actions as he walked back to the mouth of the cave and knelt down. He glanced over his shoulder at the group, wordlessly asking permission before reaching down for the glowing gem at his feet.

Velvet glanced away; her expression unreadable.

A flash of white.

---
​

Bodies clad in proud uniforms of white and blue, stained red by their own blood laid there in the dark background, motionless with their swords and spears laying in their limp grips. Flashes of their lives appeared; their friends, their families, their homes, their duty… and finally, their sacrifice.

They were valiant soldiers one and all – each of whom had wanted nothing more than to protect the lives of others.

More bodies came after the first ones – these were clad in the simple plainclothes of villagers and townsfolk. The people that those soldiers had failed to save, and thus had doomed. many of the bodies wore clothing meant for a warm, tropical climate. Some others wore heavy furs. Others still wore clothing for mild temperatures.

All lied there, unmoving in the silence of death.

The bodies trailed in her wake; left behind by the one figure heedlessly moving forward into the darkness wearing a cape of putrid malevolence. It was clear that the lives she had ended and the lives she had ruined did not matter to her in the lightest.

No place had been safe from the destruction she had wrought. No life had been spared by her cold, callous steps.

---
​

The sky was dark that night, the stars and the moon having been hidden by a heavy sheet of clouds that threatened imminent rain. Amidst the cool and crisp air of the darkened valley, a lone woman stepped out between the trunks of the towering alpine trees, her expression obscured by the shadows. Her boots crunched softly in the overgrown foliage as she stepped out of the tree line, slowly coming to a halt in the middle of the clearing.

She abruptly spoke into the darkness. "You're a seraph." she stated.

A low hum rang out into the cold night air as a seraph taking the form of a young girl clad in skimpy dark clothing inexplicably materialized before her, her expression neutral as she faced the taller woman amidst the grass. "A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Mrs. Crowe." she greeted softly with a bow.

Velvet put a hand on her hip, raising her eyebrow. "I'm afraid I can't exactly share that sentiment – not after what happened today." She ran her eyes up and down the girl's appearance, frowning. "Who are you?"

"My name is Symonne." the seraph introduced herself, putting a hand to her chest. "You must understand that what I was doing today was merely in accordance with what my Lord bid me." Her arm fell limply to her side. "Naturally, I hold nothing against you, Lady Calamity." she demurred.

"I wouldn't call me that." Velvet crossed her arms with an irate expression. "My reasons for doing what I do are nothing compared to that of your own Lord."

Symonne studied her carefully, standing almost eerily still as she did so.

Eventually, she spoke. "Why was it do you think that I chose that particular monster for the final act?" she asked. "I could have selected any number of hellions to serve the same purpose. Why that one in particular?"

Velvet's eyes narrowed. "…I imagine it was because that monster represents a time in my past where I was the most vulnerable." she growled. "It served to let me know just to what extent you all are aware of my past."

"Just so."

The dark seraph leaned forward expectantly, an excited fervor coloring her voice. "My Lord knows everything about your splendid history, Ms. Crowe. As such, so do I." she explained. "We both know what you're doing here alongside the Shepherd; deceiving him with one of your many faces."

She spread her arms out wide, taking an indulgent step forward. "Yet why bother?!" she asked loudly. "What is so bad about the person you care about being a hellion?" She raised her hands higher, up to the darkened sky above. "It is only natural! The true state of all beings; the end result of life! Why must you toil so as to reverse what is only inevitable?!" she implored incredulously.

Velvet's lip curled disdainfully. "You must've not seen nearly as much of my past as you've been boasting if you felt the need to ask me that."

"Then tell me!" Symonne objected heatedly, any semblance of the cool she had displayed earlier washing away with the utter fervor in her voice.

Her arm slashed to her side decisively. "This pointless existence begets only sorrow. Sorrow that persists until life itself finally arrives what it should truly be! The stars shine, the waves roll, the sun sets, just as how everything that is alive falls to malevolence. Am I not wrong?" she cried. "Why must you prolong such suffering?!"

With that, Velvet spun around on her heel, turning her back to the seraph. "We're done here." she dismissed callously, beginning to walk away.

Taking deep breaths, Symonne collected herself from her outburst.

Her breath calming, she shook her head quietly. "…So be it." she murmured, her eyes rising to drill into the back of the former Lord of Calamity's neck. "Then we must continue to tear you away from your fellow actors, just as one bleeds themselves so as to purge themselves of poison."

Velvet glanced over her shoulder disdainfully. "You think I couldn't tell what you've been trying to achieve this entire time?" She resumed walking; her eyes cold. "…Keep trying." she growled under her breath. "See if I give a damn."

Symonne watched her leave, a single exposed canine tooth biting her lip. She glanced up into the sky as the first droplets of rainwater began to land on her exposed skin, falling from the turbulent skies above.

Volatile winds began to pick up across the valley, gusting furiously as the storm truly began to break. Trees groaned in protest to the wind, splattered with waves of rainfall pouring down from the heavens. The servant of the Lord of Calamity let out a breath, closing her eyes and savoring the freezing cold water falling on her face. "The scene is set; the time is ripe." she mumbled, smiling softly. "Rather productive… for the opening act."

Her eyes opened into the rain, her smile widening. "Oh, but how happy he will be."

Up above, the rain continued to fall, the storm only just beginning to unleash its true potential upon the world.

---​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 16 – Scattered.

One more night until the harvest moon.

Her teacher had been talking about it non-stop in school today, going on and on about how important it is, the history associated with it, how it could only be seen once a year, and this and that and this and that… It admittedly hadn't taken Alby long until she had fallen asleep what with her teacher's droning voice, but thankfully nobody around had noticed her softly snoring in the corner of the classroom. Well, that, or her fellow students were just used to her habitually going to sleep in the middle of class. Come to think of it, sleeping in class was something she did almost every day…

She shook her head and forced herself to focus on what she was actually out here for in the first place rather than getting lost in her memories, readjusting herself atop the branch she was perched on. There, through the shadowy forms of the branches and leaves surrounding her, the child could quite cleanly make out the almost full moon drifting softly through the starry night sky, finally coming into view above the distant ragged mountains.

Alby's brown eyes shone as she took in the sight, absently kicking her dangling legs in the air in excitement. It was so pretty! Just because she'd fallen asleep in class today didn't mean that she didn't want to see the harvest moon with all her heart. The full moon, but so much brighter… she couldn't wait!

A calm breeze blew through the wilderness, reaching her tree and playing with her short brown hair. She closed her eyes and leaned back, breathing out blissfully as she savored it all. The girl loved coming out to this spot, far away from all the lights of the village to stare out into the night sky above the dark, forested valley. It was just so peaceful.

She let out a small sigh that was caught in the wind, threading her fingers together atop her dress. Her lips tugged into a frown as she let her gaze fall from the moon and back down to the ground, her eyes growing distant.

Suddenly, she blinked in surprise, belated registering movement in her vision. She blinked a few more times, trying to see if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Maybe she just needed more sleep, like always?

No! There were really people down there, coming up the hill! Her breath quickening, Alby got to her feet as quickly as she could and balanced her way down the branch towards the trunk. Wincing at the leaves and scratchy branches that she had to push out of her way, the girl gingerly began her descent down the tall old tree with an acute sense of familiarity, placing her boots down in one obscure foothold after the next.

She skipped the last few steps down to jump to the grass below, letting out a slight squeak into the night as her own haste caused her to stumble clumsily and nearly fall over. Collecting herself, she broke into a run, her heart pounding as she weaved between the trees and bushes.

With one last bound, the girl leapt enthusiastically through a gap in the bushes onto the dirt path that led to her village, a brilliant, excited smile on her face as she laid her eyes upon the visitors coming up the path. "Hi there!" she cawed brightly as she came to a halt. Her smile faltered when she recognized the glint of steel in the moonlight, reflecting off the weapons the travelers had drawn the moment she had appeared.

"Sorey! Don't worry, it's just some kid."

Alby pouted at the offensive statement the disembodied voice had made. "Hey! I'm not some kid! I'm 9 whole years old, and I'm turning 10 in just a few weeks." She puffed her chest out with a self-righteous expression. "In fact, I'm the oldest girl in my class, just so you know!"

The three strangers exchanged incredulous glances in the wake of her words. Just so. She did look younger than she actually was, and it tended to surprise most adults. It always gave Alby a bit of pride whenever she announced it, she had to admit. Just a little. She tilted her head to the side curiously. "Are you guys going to the village? I can guide you there if you'd like." she offered. "The way gets kinda tricky up ahead."

After a moment, one of the two ladies of the group relaxed her body and sheathed her two shiny knives before kneeling down in front of Alby with a kind nod and a smile. "That'd be real nice of ya if you did." the lady remarked warmly. "But before that, my name's Rose. What's yours?" she asked as she extended an empty hand to the girl.

Remembering her manners, Alby quickly seized the adult's hand, giving it a proper shake. "You can call me Alby! All my friends at school do. Nice to meet you, Miss Rose!"

"Likewise!" Rose grinned back at her, standing back up and jerking a thumb at her other two fellow travelers. "That's Sorey." she introduced, gesturing at the man with a funny-looking cloak on his back. "And that there's Velvet." she added, moving her thumb towards the other lady.

Alby's eyes were wide as she trotted forward. "…Wow!" she gasped; her hands held together before her mouth. "You have really, really pretty hair, Miss Velvet!" she exclaimed, her mouth wide open in astonishment as she came to a stop before the stranger. "How can you possibly comb it all yourself?!"

Caught rather off-guard, the lady called Velvet shifted on her feet and let out an amused chuckle. "Most of the time I'd have someone else comb it." she answered, gently resting a hand on her hip. "I don't really bother these days, though."

"Boo!" Alby exclaimed, fisting her hands urgently. "You know, my friend's ma tells me that taking care of your hair is super important. That everyone should care about keeping themselves clean, so that way they can have a cleaner heart!"

Velvet raised an amused eyebrow in response. "I'll keep that in mind, thanks." she replied dryly.

Satisfied with a job well done, Alby turned from the woman whom she'd bestowed her wisdom upon to the final member of the group. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Sorey!" she greeted brightly. "That's a funny-looking cloak you've got there." she chirped. "It looks real nice on you though!"

Sorey scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Haha, thanks, Alby. You look great yourself." He tilted his head to the side, glancing around curiously. "Say, what are you up to all by yourself out here this late at night? Isn't it kinda dangerous to be outside of the village alone?" he asked.

The girl blinked a few times. "Ah, erm… well…" she mumbled, pushing the tip of her two index fingers together sheepishly. "It's uh… actually against the rules to go outside after dark." she admitted with a mumble.

Velvet let out a sigh, shaking her head in the clear, familiar disapproval of an annoying adult. "…So then nobody knows you're outside, on your own?" she asked in the tone of someone who already knew the answer.

Alby nodded glumly. "…I just wanted to see the moon and the stars." she explained gloomily. "It's hard to see with all the bright lights in the village."

Her head sank lower to the ground. "Please don't tell anyone…" she pleaded. "If you do, I won't be able to come out here anymore and see the stars." she near whimpered, tears glistening at the corners of her eyes.

Repetitively tapping a finger on her left bicep with both arms crossed, Velvet opened her mouth sternly.

In a bold flash of bravery, Sorey beat her to the punch. "We won't tell anyone if you help lead us to the village." he proposed hastily with a bright grin, squatting down to the child's height. "You said it's pretty tricky up ahead, right? Then if you help us make it through to the village, we won't breathe a word of this to anyone. Sound good?"

She looked at him with puppy eyes. "...You… promise not to tell anyone?" she keened.

"Cross my heart." Sorey nodded solemnly, holding her doubtful gaze with a smile. He purposefully kept his eyes far away from Velvet's general direction, from which he could practically feel the radiating waves of disapproval emanating.

"YAY!"

All of a sudden, the energy had zapped back into Alby's movements as she started tap-dancing on the spot, excitedly beckoning them forward. "Then let's go! Right now!"

"A-alright!" Rose agreed readily, hefting the pack on her back and stepping forward. "We'll be right behind you!"

As the two of them left, Sorey took a deep breath and slowly turned his head to the left, facing the inevitable. He winced as he took in the look on Velvet's face as she glared at him, a near snarl on her expression. "A promise is a promise, Velvet. Can't go back now." he said with an innocent shrug.

The traveler heaved a heavy sigh in response, turning on her heel to follow Rose and the child in the distance. "…You're hopeless." she growled as she stalked off.

Sorey let out a breath as he dogged her steps, grateful that the woman hadn't gone off on a lecture right then and there. Although he was certain that there was definitely a particularly stern lecture for him in the future. And maybe some violence to accompany that.

"You're going to regret that." Edna pointed out dryly as she stepped alongside him.

Sorey smiled weakly. "Yeah… I know I will."

High up in the sky, the waxing moon continued to shine amongst the sea of stars, untarnished by a single manmade light amidst the silent forested valley.

---​

"My, travelers in Gododdin? And at this hour no less? Well, welcome!" The plump lady who served as the village innkeeper exclaimed as the three strangers walked into the old log building of hers. She blinked, glancing down at the little girl standing beside the travelers with surprise. "…Alby?" She tilted her head curiously. "What're you doing with these people?"

Before the girl could respond, Rose piped up. "She caught us coming in the front gate and helped point us in the right direction." She patted the girl's shoulder amicably. "She's been a real help; I can tell you that much."

"Uh, th-that's right!" Alby agreed vehemently, trotting up to the innkeep. "It's nice to see you, Ms. Esters! If it's alright, I wanted to help them settle into the room upstairs."

Ms. Esters put both hands on her hips and shook her head in amusement. "Sorry about her." she apologized to the newcomers. "Alby's friends with my daughter and can be real clingy sometimes, especially with newcomers. She finds people interesting, or something like that. If you want, I can shoo her back home for ya folks."

"I'm not clingy…" Alby pouted, crossing her arms petulantly.

Velvet waved a hand she stepped forward. "That won't be necessary. We'll be taking the room upstairs." Gald clinked on the wooden counter before the innkeep as payment.

The innkeep blinked in surprise. "Why, this is enough for a few nights at least!" She glanced at the three strange-looking travelers curiously. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you folk doing here all the way here in our tiny corner of the continent for so long? I'm afraid I have to admit that Gododdin is hardly a stellar tourist attraction."

Sorey held up his copy of the Celestial Record amicably. "We're academic explorers." he explained. "We found something in some ruins that indicated that there might be an ancient structure somewhere in the Biroclef Ridge area, but we don't know where exactly. That's why we'll be staying here for a bit."

"An ancient structure…?" Ms. Esters put a hand to her chin, intrigued. "My, I do believe I may know what you are talking about."

"You do?" Sorey took an excited step forward. "Do you know where it is?!"

She shook her head. "No. But I'll ask around tomorrow and see what I can come up with. I believe I'll be able to get back to you by tomorrow afternoon."

"If you could, that would be a great help!" Sorey grinned. "Thank you!"

"Anything for one of my rare patrons." The innkeep beamed back. "Come on, I'll show you to your room." As one, the group began to follow her up the creaking stairs of the old log building before she abruptly stopped and turned around with a wry grin. "…Alby." she drawled at length. "You're not clingy. I take it back, got it, hon?" she conceded with bemusement.

"…Good." Alby nodded haughtily before enthusiastically jogging up the stairs, catching up with the group as they resumed their climb.

A quickly growing fire crackled in the hearth, warming up the disused room to toasty levels as Alby and Ms. Esters helped settle the three travelers into the room in the inn. For some reason, Sorey was adamant that they keep the extra beds in the room, even though there were only three of them. Then again, it might've been because he wanted somewhere for the ghosts to sleep or something like that. Alby shrugged, trotting over to the hearth to warm her hands. Ms. Esters always taught her not to judge other people, and to never call them "outsiders," so she wouldn't. It wasn't nice.

She blinked as she bumped into something on her way to the fire, stumbling backwards on the wooden planks with a squeak. Something caught her from falling, however, pulling her back upright. She beamed at the empty space next to her where she could tell the ghost was hiding. "Thanks, Mr. ghost!" she exhaled with a sigh of relief. "Sorry for bumping into your ghost buddy. My friends at school always call me clumsy…"

"You can… see us?" A low, rather grouchy voice resounded out loud.

"Not really." Alby replied with a shrug, still facing the empty space of air where the ghost was. "But I can tell where you are and hear your voices loud and clear!" she bounced on her feet. "I don't think I've ever met real life ghosts before, though. Aren't you all supposed to be spooky and stuff? You know, haunting old mansions?"

A low, amused laugh. "Not enough real estate to go around, I'm afraid."

"Hmph." A huff came from a different ghost across the room. "Don't go comparing us to the likes of hellions." he said haughtily. "We seraphim have standards, you know."

"Remember who you're talking to." the first ghost growled.

"Exception to the norm." the feminine voice of a third ghost observed matter-of-factly. "There's always a deviant in any pool."

"…Call me that again. I dare you."

"Dezel the seraph is a deviant. Deviazel." she replied calmly, drawing out each syllable.

A wordless growl of irritation followed her statement.

Alby began giggling helplessly, muffling her smile in a pointless attempt at being polite to the first ghost. "S-sorry." she apologized through her stifled giggles. "That wasn't a very nice thing to say."

"And Deviazel isn't a very nice deviant." the lady ghost replied succinctly. "If you could see him, you'd see how weird he looks."

"You're one to talk." Dezel growled back.

"Oh?" she asked smugly. "Insulting a lady, are we? Not really helping your case."

"A 'lady,' huh?" He let out a gruff scoff. "That's news to me."

Alby promptly turned and trotted up to the lady ghost, leaning in close to where she figured her ear was and began whispering, a mischievous grin on her face. The message was obviously transmitted correctly for as soon as she stepped away, the lady ghost piped up smugly. "She says you sound like a crotchety old man who's no fun."

"…Tch." Dezel had apparently had enough as he turned away. "Whatever." he muttered.

The ghost from across the room let out a chuckle as Dezel stewed in silence. "…You know, it's nice not being at the butt of Edna's jokes for once." he remarked.

Alby grinned brightly, glancing between the three ghosts with her hands entwined behind her back. At her side, the fire crackled continuously, while the Velvet, Sorey, and Rose were busy pulling various travel articles out of their packs on the other side of the room. Ms. Esters had helped to prepare the beds, having finally managed to find the extra set of sheets for Velvet. It had been a fun night, full of new people and new strange things to discover. It was a shame that soon she would have to go, as it was getting late…

Her eyes suddenly widened as she abruptly realized just how late it was. "Oh! Oh no!" she gasped, freezing in place. She glanced briefly at the ghosts whom she felt were all looking her direction and explained quickly, "I've gotta go!"

Sorey was just about to close the door as she ran over to the exit, her expression urgent. "You gotta leave now, Alby?" he asked, holding the door open for her.

She jogged over, an apologetic expression on her face. "Yeah, I'm sorry, Mr. Sorey. I really, really need to go home now. I get in trouble if I come home late…" She hesitated. "…But I kept my side of the promise, right?" she asked hopefully up at the young man.

Sorey gave her a wry thumbs up. "I didn't see a thing." he promised.

He grunted in surprise as the child gave him a warm, tight hug in response. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She bounced back. "Oh, and let your ghost friends know that it was really nice to meet them! I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer, but I hope we can play again together sometime."

Sorey blinked in surprise, glancing up at Lailah standing curiously behind him before returning his gaze to the child. "I'll uh, let them know." He nodded reaffirming. "Well, good night, Alby." he wished. "Hope your parents don't give you too much grief for being late!"

"Y… yeah! Me too. Okay, good night, Mr. Sorey!"

The sudden strange look in her eye and the abrupt dullness to her expression caused Sorey to frown after the girl as she charged outside and down the stairs, his brow furrowed.

"Sorey?"

He turned to face Lailah standing beside him and shook his head. "…It's nothing." he replied, dismissing the thought. "That girl Alby had a bunch of resonance, didn't she?"

"It was quite remarkable." Lailah nodded deeply, a smile creeping into her expression. "She apparently assisted Edna in giving Dezel quite the headache."

He chuckled with amusement. "She looked like a good kid." He winced. "…I just hope Velvet doesn't skin me alive for letting her go off on her own at night." he muttered, glancing furtively over his shoulder at the woman in question who was currently on the other side of the room cleaning the bedside table.

The fire seraph held her hand up to cover her smile. "That was quite brave of you, Sorey." she remarked wryly. "You have my admiration for standing up to her as you did."

He shook his head ruefully. "I think the reason for why I did it was because I was just thinking about how Mikleo and I broke Gramps' rules all the time back in Elysia..." he supposed with a shake of his head. "Anyway, I made the decision, so now I suppose I'll have to face the consequences, as always." he said as he turned around and walked away, headed to his own bed. "Argh. This feels just like how I'd feel back then when I knew Gramps had it in for me…" he grumbled.

"Once a rule breaker, always a rule breaker, it would seem." Lailah commented wryly, following in his footsteps.

The fire in the hearth popped and cackled as it grew ever bigger and stronger, its enveloping warmth filling every single being in the room as they settled down for the night, mimicking their own thoughts as they fell asleep.

---​

Something nudged her. She shifted slightly and ignored it.

"…Psst! Alby!"

"Ngh…" Drearily, the 9-year-old swatted in the vague direction of where the irritating noise was coming from. Why couldn't she just be left alone to get some more sleep? She was tired!

"Alby!" the voice hissed even more urgently, tinged with a bit of… embarrassment? What was that sound in the background…?

"…Kyle?" She blinked blearily, staring at her childhood friend poking her rather urgently in the shoulder. "What's going…"

Suddenly, the girl shot up in her seat, yelping as she nearly toppled over all the while registering the grinning faces of her peers as they giggled back at her in the corner of the school, alongside the very, very stern expression of the teacher. "…Alby." he stressed as he shook his head in disapproval, leaning back in his chair at the front of the classroom. "Am I truly that boring? I swear, this must be the fifth time this month."

"Actually sir? It's her seventh." one of the boys provided gleefully.

Alby stammered as she got to her feet, her cheeks beet red. "S-s-sorry, sir!" she yelped. "I… I didn't get much sleep last night! I won't do it again!"

The teacher's expression was the definition of unconvinced. "…Somehow, I doubt that." he shook his head. "Take a seat, Alby." he told her sternly, turning the page in the book before him. "Everyone, turn to page 29. You'll see some drawings there by the authors that show the harvest moon above the Fields of Triumph. This would be how people harvest a good chunk of their crops during the night, using the brighter and longer lasting moonlight. Well, that is if there wasn't a famine like nowadays, but as you can imagine when there were fields full of…"

Alby's eyes slowly slid shut again and she was asleep once more within the minute.

…It wasn't her fault! She was just so tired!

When class finally got out after an eternity, she and Kyle were near the first ones charging out the gates and into the village proper, dodging between the adults heaving construction material and the chattering shopkeepers, giggling hopelessly as they devolved into a game of tag. The sun was high in the air, shining above the small cluster of buildings known as the prosperous village of Gododdin.

Alby cackled as she dove through a gap in the fence, barely managing to dodge Kyle's grasping hands which gave her enough time to blow a derisive raspberry at her pursuer before she turned around to pelt through the pen. The inhabitants of said pen, multicolored chickens minding their own precious business, were forced to scatter with indignant squawks as the girl raced through their territory with a boy hot on her heels.

Eventually, their legs ran out of energy and they slumped tiredly next to each other against the well at the center of the village beside the schoolhouse, both gasping for breath like a pair of fish out of water. The abruptly froze and stared at each other at the same time, before both simultaneously bursting out into uncontrollable giggles at how stupid they'd sounded.

Men and woman stepped around their forms as they went ahead and drew water from the well they were leaning on, chattering on and on about adult stuff; things that Alby barely understood and therefore barely cared about.

"War nearly broke out between the two nations." they'd say with serious voices.

"Word is the church and the Platinum Knights are fighting each other for the King's favor."

"Those freak storms in the capital are apparently getting worse."

"It's going to be a bad crop this year too, I can tell."

"Murders and crime are rampant in Lastonbell, and people are afraid to leave their houses."

"People say that Shepherd guy is somewhere here in Rolance."

The adults always went over the same gloomy-sounding topics these days, over and over and over again until it was no fun at all to listen to them. Life was alright for them here in the village, though, far away from it all. Whatever came next, they'd be alright, just as they'd always been. And Alby was fine with just that.

Suddenly, she jerked around and slammed her hand on Kyle's abdomen, causing him to keel over more surprised than pained as she took off once more, taunting him derisively. Grumbling loudly, the other child quickly took off in pursuit as the children once more began running through the village, dodging the adults in their own separate world. Eventually, she had to say goodbye to her best friend as the sun began to set in the distance, blanketing the town in a golden white hue.

She herself stayed out, however, as there was still time before dark. She chattered with whoever was willing to talk in the streets, walking amicably alongside traders, farmers, builders, and basically all of the adults who were busy going home after a long, long day of work. She played with some of the cattle at the farm and then chased chickens until she was shooed away by the owner who claimed she was making them "too nervous."

But eventually the inevitable came to pass as the sky began to darken in the absence of the sun that had long since sunk behind the distant mountains of the ridge. With each passing moment, Alby's cheer lessened somewhat, until her eyes were filled with nothing more but resignation and disquiet.

Slowly, she trotted down the familiar path to the small secluded house nestled in the corner of the village, resting on the side of the stone wall that served as protection for the village with its back against the rough cliffside that ringed in a good portion of the settlement as well.

She never liked going home. Really, she hated it.

Already beginning to feel her heart racing and her palms sweating, Alby carefully stepped up to the front door of the house, reaching up to grasp the latch of the front door with the gentlest of touches. Ever so slowly, the nine-year-old pulled the old door back as slowly as possible, biting her lip as the annoying thing began to squeal and screech with the slightest of movement. Once it had been opened to the point where she could barely slip through, she did so, repeating the process to close the door behind her.

She quietly slipped out of her boots and stepped into the hallway, carefully eyeing her surroundings as she did so. The darkened wooden space was deceptively tranquil, but she knew better from years of experience than to be lulled into a false sense of security. At any moment a door might slam open, and then the shouts would begin.

She took another step and froze when the putrid smell hanging in the air entered her nostrils. Every single hair on the back of her neck shot up in alarm while her heart began to beat even more rapidly. It was that strange pungent smell – the one that always made him the worst. It had been a long time since she'd last smelled that stench in this house, and it brought up horrifying memories. She had been scared before, as per usual, but now she was absolutely terrified.

Quietly yet as swiftly as possible, Alby tip-toed across the hallway, expertly navigating the squeaky boards with her feet as she made her way to her room. She sighed with relief as she rested her hand upon the cool iron of the door handle, looking behind her down the hallway furtively before pushing, stepping quietly into her room and gently shutting the door behind her.

She turned around and screamed, finding him sitting right there on her bed, wreathed in that putrid, putrid smell.

"F-Father!" she gasped, her heart pounding.

There he sat on her small bed, swaying slightly from side to side while still wearing his dirty and soiled boots which had evidently tracked mud all over her normally clean room. He was still wearing his armor. He mumbled something under his breath as his eyes, distant and unseeing, slid over to meet hers. "…A…Ah… Alby, sweetheart." he groaned, a single line of drool falling from his mouth. "…Why won't it go away?"

"I… I don't know, Father." Alby stammered, backing up as he began to lumber to his feet, gagging as she inhaled more of that putrid smell absolutely engulfing her room. "Wh… what are you doing in my room?" she dared to ask.

He stumbled over to her, barely managing to maintain his balance with gritted teeth. "Why won't it go away?" he asked her again, towering over her diminutive figure. "I tried everything damnit. The drink, smoke, and now even this crap!" With a roar, the bear of a man abruptly twisted around and flung a small container into the wall across the room with such force that it shattered on the spot, the sound causing Alby to squeal in alarm.

Her father twisted back to her, placing both of his bulky hands on her tiny shoulders. "Why won't it go away?" he repeated dumbly, his eyes glazed and unseeing. "Why?"

"W-w-why won't what g-go away, F-Father?" Alby asked weakly, beginning to tremble.

"…the PAIN!"

Alby's cry resounded through the house as she was lifted bodily up against the wall, her kicking feet doing nothing against her father's steel armor plate as he held her mindlessly in place. "She died! She died ages ago!" he roared in her face, spittle flying out of pure rage. "I wanna live damnit!" he roared. "I want the pain to go away! Why won't it go away?! After all these damn years?!" His pudgy fingers tightened around his daughter's neck. "Answer me! ANSWER ME!"

BANG!

The father's head jerked to the side to glare behind him as the foreign noise registered in his clouded, confused mind. He blinked dumbly as he registered an utter stranger standing in the middle of his daughter's room, a sword in their hand.

"You…!" the young stranger breathed in clear astonishment. "You're… not a hellion?!" Utter nonsense.

"PAH!" the man possessed by the drug running through his veins growled. "You… I don't know you." He blindly turned around to face the intruder, unintentionally dragging his daughter to his side with her neck still in his left hand. "You wanna break into my house? Threaten my family?! I'll… I'll kill you for that!" He lumbered forward, frothing at the mouth with unseeing eyes. "Ain't nobody here gonna hurt my precious daughter… NOBODY!"

"I'll protect her… I'll protect my family…" With a clumsy hand, the soldier reached down and yanked his old broadsword from its sheath, brandishing it in the air with his body swaying clumsily. "I'll kill you…" he growled, stepping forward again, his daughter still clutched in his left hand with her feet dragging on the carpeted floor.

Sorey's eyes were wide and frantic as he backed up against the corner of Alby's room, his gaze flashing between the hulking human approaching him and the helpless eyes of the girl in his grasp as she dangled in his grasp. "N… no…!" he stammered. "Stop!"

"I'LL KILL YOU!" the man roared, clenching his muscles and charging forward.

The fist clutching Alby's neck tightened with crushing force. Spots flashed in the girl's vision, her feet kicking uselessly in reaction to the pain surging through her body. She shuddered one last time and let out a small breath, her eyes rolling back into the inside of her head.

The last thing she heard before she fell asleep was a funny little bubbling noise, and then, nothing but silence.

---​

Sorey's boots left little imprints of blood as he stumbled through the darkened hallway, the unconscious body of a little girl in his trembling arms.

He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to focus one thing and one thing only; getting the girl to safety. Adrenaline pumped liberally in his veins, causing his every sense to be amplified to the extreme. His heartbeat consumed his world, whereas his eyesight had narrowed down into a tiny cone of focused attention and nothing else. He could hear the small child's wheezing as he brought her to the front door, the sound egging him urgently onward as he shoved through the entryway and into the open.

He stumbled down the steps and into the night air, grunting as he tried to find his footing in the grass and stone before the tip of his boot snagged on an outcropping stone. He swore and twisted his body around as he crashed down onto the ground, letting his shoulder and back bear the brunt of the impact and protecting the unconscious little girl's body in the process.

"SOREY!"

He gritted his teeth and forced himself back onto his feet, swaying with the weight as he readjusted the girl in his arms. Absently, he registered Velvet, Rose, Mikleo, and the others all running up to him with wide, shocked eyes. He forced his mouth to move and to utter something. Anything.

"We need to get her away from here." he managed to say. "The square."

Edna twisted her umbrella sharply. "Mikleo." she ordered almost harshly.

"A-alright!" Mikleo shook himself and nodded sharply. "Let me give you a hand!" With that, his childhood friend reached around him and supported his and Alby's shaky weight, leading his steps forward as they carried the child into the village proper.

"Come on!" Rose had jogged up ahead. "The coast is clear right now." she beckoned.

"Sorey…" Lailah breathed, her eyes filled with worry as she walked alongside the Shepherd and Mikleo.

Velvet's eyes were hard and calculating as she walked on Sorey's other side. "Sorey. Tell me what happened." she ordered lowly, her eyes flitting across her surroundings as the group walked through the presently deserted streets of Gododdin. "Now."

Sorey's jaw set as he forced himself to comply with the order; a small part of his brain telling him it would be best to do as she said. "He… he wasn't a hellion." He took a deep, shaky breath. "He just wasn't himself. She… Alby was dying... I… I had to…" he shut his eyes furiously, scrubbing at them with one free hand.

Velvet exchanged a meaningful glance with Rose in response to Sorey's words. The assassin's expression was deathly serious in response. "We need to get outta here." she stated plainly. "I'll go get our stuff."

Velvet nodded sharply. "I'll stay with Sorey." she stated. "I know where we're going."

"Meet you at the top?"

"Yeah."

With that, the two women nodded succinctly and split up, with Rose dashing through the darkness with the finesse befitting that of an assassin. Velvet's eyes were hard as she resumed her vigil, watching out for any potential passerby that might catch them in such a compromising position. "Lailah." she prompted without looking. "Heal the girl."

The fire seraph nodded unquestioningly, raising a single hand as she matched Sorey and Mikleo's pace. The low hum of her mana resounded off the surrounding walls of the village as they approached the empty school building in the center of Gododdin.

"Dezel." Velvet glanced over at the wind seraph with a tone that brooked absolutely no dissent. "Be ready to throw them off our scent."

The wind seraph did nothing more than respond with a nod. Even he recognized the severity of the current situation.

All the while Sorey stared ahead with almost manic fervor, his teeth gritted as he forced himself to think about nothing but saving the girl in his arms. He had to do what he had to do, and that was all that mattered.

A coughing fit drew their collective attention as Alby, having been healed by Lailah, stirred in Mikleo and Sorey's grasp, her utterly confused and horrified eyes blinking awake as she stared at the world around her. Blood ran up and down her clothing, staining her arms and her neck. "F… Father?" she croaked through her bruised trachea.

Sorey squeezed his eyes shut.

As they laid her on the ground with her back leaning against one of the fence posts of the school grounds, the girl began to regain clarity in her eyes. "Wh… what happened? Where… where's Father?" She coughed furiously, her breathing weak and battered.

Slowly, her gaze landed on Sorey's, her eyes wide in horror. "…What… what did you do?" she breathed softly.

Sorey trembled in that moment, with the daughter of the man he had murdered with his own hands right before him. He opened his mouth but failed to find anything to say.

"F…Father…" Alby hiccupped before closing her eyes, tears running down her cheeks and intermingling with the blood. "…FATHER!" she wailed, the cry echoing off the surrounding houses and rock with a piercing screech.

All around them, dogs began to bark, while confused villagers scrambled awake, their cries and shouts resounding throughout the night as the village roused itself. Alby continued to cry, curling up in a ball and wailing continuously, regardless of how hoarse her throat was.

"Let's GO!"

Sorey was jerked from his horror as a hand on his shoulder shoved him violently forward, causing him to stumble and nearly fall into the dirt. He grunted as Velvet latched onto his wrist, forcing him bodily forward towards the exit to the village. As he began to run on mechanical limbs, he noted absently that Dezel had disappeared the moment the shouts had begun, off to delay the villagers and support their escape.

It was in this manner that the Shepherd and his followers departed from the hallowed village of Gododdin like a gang of thieves in the night, hidden underneath the dark shadows cast by the abnormally bright full moon overhead. The body of the fabled harvest moon was unusually large as it rose into the dark and quiet night sky, wreathing the land in its innocent beauty and bestowing upon mankind the gift of light amidst a dark, unforgiving world.

Amidst the abnormal night borne of warped light and dark shadows, the distant wailing of the traumatized child continued to echo through the air, ringing horridly in Sorey's ears as he ran away.

---​

Massive thanks to Paragon of Awesomeness for betaing this chapter!

 

[CloudFry]

(Edited December 26th​, 2019)

---
​

Chapter 17 – Evil.

A soft drizzle fell in the morning air, the tiny drops of falling water barely distinguishable amidst the monochrome sunlight vaguely radiating through the overcast skies. The gentle rainfall was nothing in the way of their travels and the sun itself was plenty high in the sky, but still, the Shepherd's group stayed stagnant in the silence.

Mikleo stood in the drizzling rain away from the campsite, staring worriedly towards the cliffside trail that curved past the nearby ridge and out of sight. His cape flapped in the breeze as he stood there, motionless.

"What happened with that girl and her father... All of this is just awful." he mumbled, breaking the silence. "…And now Sorey's beating himself up for what happened." he said grimly.

His words carried to Lailah who was quietly combing her hair by the cave entrance. She softly nodded her head. "…I don't think Sorey slept very well last night. I was sure I heard him tossing and turning in his bedroll."

"He probably didn't get a wink of sleep." Edna curled up with her legs against her chest as she sheltered herself from the rain under her umbrella. "Killing another human for the first time had to have been difficult. Especially for someone as originally naïve as him."

"Well, yeah." Rose trotted up to the rest of them, crossing her arms. "Honestly, I had hoped that he would never end up getting to a point like this. The world's got enough killers like me, after all." She shifted on her feet, the charms dangling off her clothing waving in the wind. "…But there's no use crying over spilt milk. It's best to give him some space for right now – this is the sort of thing you have to come to terms with on your own."

"I take it you're talking from experience?" Mikleo asked dully, still staring out into the fog.

"Of course I am." She shook her head. "But you know, it's probably a good thing that Sorey's reacting so harshly to it. If killing is something that comes to you easier than breathing, then you're probably not someone who respects how precious lives really are."

Behind her, partially obscured by the shadows of the cave, Dezel grunted, crossing his arms. "Could've fooled me." he muttered.

Velvet's blade squealed noisily as she ran the grindstone down its length for the umpteenth time amidst the silence that followed. The wind kicked up once more, playing with her hair as she stared at her reflection in the pristine steel that made up her lifeline. After a few more moments of silence, her sword collapsed back into its sheath with a noisy clank.

"I'm going." she stated simply.

The rest of the group watched mutely as she stood up, turning around and leaving down the path that hugged the ridgeline without another word.

Her steel boots clanked rhythmically on the moist stone and gravel underfoot as she followed the path, the drizzle and the mist enveloping her entirely. To her left and off the edge of the cliff, the vast expansive landscape of the Biroclef Ridge spread out amidst the overcast skies, populated by sharp, jagged cliffs and patches of rolling hills topped with vast swathes of forest. Up ahead, the path continued, twisting and turning with seemingly no end in sight.

It wasn't long before she found him amidst the drizzling rain.

Sitting cross-legged underneath a lone tree on the cliffside up ahead, Sorey stared out into the vast expanse of nature in utter solitude. His hands rested on his thighs, his elbows bent, and his entire body hunched and diminutive. Velvet paused there for a second, taking in the sight of the Shepherd sitting there by himself. Then she stepped forward, the metal chains on her outfit clinking in the breeze.

"You'll catch a cold if you stay out here much longer." She came to a halt behind him, her arms crossed and her tattered jacket flapping in the breeze. "The wind and the water won't do you any favors."

Sorey blinked in dumb surprise to the woman's sudden words, jolting out of his thousand-yard stare to glance up at her standing beside him. He found his voice. "Oh. Y-you're right. Sorry, Velvet." he replied with a sheepish grin.

Velvet let out a breath, waving a hand. "Why apologize to me? You're the one who's going to catch a cold." She glanced off towards the cliffside path from which she'd come from, letting her hand rest upon her hip. "Besides, I know if you do get sick or something, everyone would worry. …Then you'd keep beating yourself up even more."

The Shepherd let out a humorless, self-deprecating chuckle in response, scratching the bridge of his nose. "…I know." he breathed, his expression falling. "I know that everyone's probably already worried sick about me. I know I should be grateful that they all have my back, every step of the way. I know that I should be with them even right now, so that they can help me get through this. But…"

His gaze drifted down, his back hunching further.

"But you still feel more alone than ever." Velvet finished for him. "Because of that cloak on your back." She crossed her arms, observing him carefully.

Sorey hesitated. Then he quietly tilted his head forward in a soft nod.

"…Yeah."

Above them, the leaves of the lone tree rustled as it swayed from side to side amidst the gentle breeze. Heavier droplets of accumulated rainfall dropped from the leaves down onto the grass at irregular intervals around the two of them, punctuating the silence.

"My sister once said something, a long time ago."

Surprise flitted through Sorey's eyes. He glanced up at her, curiosity breaking through his inner conflict. "Your… sister?" he asked hesitantly.

Velvet nodded, stepping forward into the drizzling rain beyond the shelter of the lone tree. "I was too young at the time to understand what she really meant. My brother could barely even walk at the time." She came to a halt at the edge of the cliff, crossing her arms and staring out into the untamed wilderness beyond in the enshrouding mist.

"'Cry when you're sad. Eat when you're hungry.'" she quoted softly, her gaze distant and unseeing as she recalled the ghost of an age that had long since passed. She turned around to face Sorey's troubled yet curious expression directly; a rare sort of gentleness in her eyes. "'Because feeling these things is proof that you're alive.'"

Sorey blinked. "That you're… alive?" he tasted the words, uncomprehendingly.

Velvet nodded distantly. "In the end, that was all my sister wanted." she breathed. "For herself… my brother, my brother-in-law, and I to share these feelings as one. To live together, as one small, happy family." Warm memories filled her mind – gentle, soothing flashes of bright light, rendered dull and blurry through time and disuse.

"…And we did." she noted matter-of-factly, looking away. "All the way up until that moment ended." The warmth in her voice had faded.

Sorey looked on sadly, watching as the mask that his friend always carried with her slowly took hold of her expression once more. "Velvet…" There it was again. That feeling of disconnection between him and his friend. The pain that she nurtured in her heart; utterly alien to him.

Velvet shook her head in response to his sympathy, forging onward. "Regardless, I've since come to realize what my sister meant when she told me about what it meant to be alive." Her thoughts flashed back to a certain dark seraph who had tried to convince her to join her side a few nights back.

"Life can be full of sorrow. Sorrow for a world that isn't really what we imagined it would be. It's an ugly, sinful world, full of contradictions and grey areas where everything seems fleeting." She turned to face him directly, meeting his eyes. "It takes time to come to terms with this. As a Shepherd, your job is to face these matters head on, and to shift through the matters of the world however you think is best.

"But despite all of it, never forget that you are still alive." She crossed her arms, carefully watching the emotions flitting through his expression as she did so. "Because you're not just a Shepherd, in the end."

She waved a hand errantly in the air. "You're just another living being, doing what you need to do."

Sorey absorbed in her words like a drowning man clutching onto driftwood, deeply considering every syllable with mixed emotions. The pattering of the rain and the rustling of the trees continued in the silence.

"…I see."

He gazed up at her and smiled sheepishly, scratching his head. "You're right, Velvet. I… I guess I got a little too caught up in everything." he admitted quietly. With a grunt, he got to his own two feet, gingerly shaking the blood flow back into his legs.

"Your sister sounds like a very smart woman, Velvet. Thank you for sharing her wisdom with me." He met her gaze earnestly. "I understand. I'll keep going from here, and I'll think about everything you've told me." His face broke into a soft smile, scratching his head sheepishly. "Hey, now that you mention it, I am kinda hungry right now. I guess… I really kinda forgot about being alive for a bit there." he admitted. "Thanks for reminding me."

"It's good you remembered." She tilted her head to the side, raising an eyebrow. "Although you might not stay that way if you stay out here any longer in the rain." She idly played with the straps of her gauntlet blade on her wrist. "…Now, do I have to drag you back to camp or do you prefer to walk?" she asked him casually.

Sorey gulped.

"Th-that won't be necessary!" he reassured hurriedly, jolting into a quick backward trot away from the woman with his hands splayed. "I-I'll see you back at camp then, Velvet!" he grinned before quickly turning around, breaking into a brisk trot down the cliffside path in a comical hurry.

Velvet stood there by herself by the edge of the cliff as the Shepherd disappeared out of sight down in the path, the amused smirk slowly fading from her expression. Her thoughts swirled inside her mind, dissecting the situation as it stood.

It was good that he was headed back towards his friends, she reckoned – back to the company of those he could trust to support him in the darkest of times. Furthermore, she felt confident in his capacity to face the truth of reality, given all of the things he had been through before leading up to this. With this latest development, she knew there was little else to do to in order to spur the development of a powerful, level-headed future Shepherd. Things were looking up.

All around her, the wind picked up, playing with her clothing and causing the chains on her outfit to jangle quietly. Eventually, her gaze rose towards the seemingly empty ridgeline up above. She crossed her arms.

"You can come out now." she announced.

A blur flashed down from the top of the cliff from seemingly nowhere, touching down upon the gravel in front of her with barely a sound. The regally dressed woman stood back up after landing with a practiced swiftness, her flowing azure dress resettling smoothly with the movement. She stood there without uttering a word, openly regarding Velvet amidst the silence of the soft drizzle.

Velvet tilted her head to the side, raising an expectant eyebrow at the other woman.

Seemingly satisfied with her observations, the stranger nodded to herself and opened her mouth. "My master will not be pleased when he learns of my actions, I'm sure. I took many risks to travel so far, leaving my station unattended for so long."

Metal clinked as she raised her gauntleted hand, sweeping a few stray strands of magenta hair to the side. "Yet when I received word of a former Lord of Calamity who had begun traveling alongside the young Shepherd…" She met Velvet's eyes directly, a strange quality to her gaze. "I simply had to come see for myself."

Velvet stared back, carefully considering the newcomer with a sharp eye. "You're a servant of Heldalf's, I take it?"

"Verily." The woman's armored fist pressed up against her corset as she introduced herself, "My name is Maltran, acting military advisor to the Holy Kingdom of Hyland and a dedicated servant to the cause of the great Lord of Calamity Himself."

"Maltran…" Velvet mumbled, her brow furrowing as she brought a finger up to her chin, considering the distinctly familiar name. After a moment she blinked, her hand falling from her face as she looked upon the advisor before her in a completely new light. "You're Alisha's mentor." she realized.

Maltran hummed in agreement, her eyes glinting thoughtfully. "My 'pupil' spoke very highly of you, you know." she remarked. "Seemed to find you as someone to aspire to." Her lips upturned disdainfully. "Not that a sad, foolish princess like herself could ever manage to achieve such feats of will and strength as you."

Velvet's eyes were hard. "…I take it you're a hellion as well." she presumed.

"Naturally." the advisor confirmed. "I lost my faith in humanity a long, long time ago." She crossed her arms. "Now, I follow the true path. That borne of the clean, elegant logic of my master."

"And that meant teaching a princess everything she knew?" Velvet raised an eyebrow. "How?"

Maltran chuckled briefly, shaking her head. "Ironically enough, to start a war, it is most effective to take a starry-eyed pacifist and get them all riled up over something." Her single exposed brown eye met Velvet's amber ones with sympathetic, malicious amusement. "Sometimes all one has to do to achieve what they want is to merely find and shape the right person to fit the right role. That is, to use them to the fullest extent. Do you not agree?"

Velvet's lips were drawn in a thin line. She didn't reply.

The military advisor let out a deep sigh, shaking her head and running a hand over her curled ponytail in exasperation. "I must admit, it took myself far, far longer to drill into that stupid pacifist princess's mind that killing is sometimes necessary as a knight to protect others." She met Velvet's eyes once more, profound respect in her gaze. "I truly do admire you for the work you've done with that weakling Shepherd. You have a gracefulness in your weaving of words and emotion that I never managed with my own tool." Maltran praised deeply. "A splendid job."

Velvet abruptly shifted on her feet, crossing her arms and rapidly tapping her bicep with her index finger. "I'm guessing you didn't travel half the continent just to shower me in praise." she presumed pointedly.

"Indeed." Maltran nodded deeply, slowly stepping forward towards her. "In truth, I come to you, in all my admiration and respect for you and your storied history, as an ambassador to the cause of my master." She came to a halt a few paces away from Velvet, right underneath the same tree under which Velvet had just spoken to Sorey. Her eyes glistened with impassioned fever. "I implore you consider the true benefits of the world he offers. That you might come to recognize the beauty and grace of a world imbued with nothing more but pure, raw malevolence."

She pushed a stray strand of hair away from her face. "You seek to free Maotelus from his bonds, that much is clear. Yet, are they truly bonds? Is it truly so bad for the world to simply sink into a sea of malevolence and let the true nature of all beings come forth? What better way to erase this corrupted, chaotic world with all the humans in in it, than to start anew amidst a world of sin?"

Metal clinked as she raised a single gloved hand towards the other woman in an open gesture. "Join us, Velvet Crowe." she asked boldly. "Abandon this futile quest to forge your own 'pupil' into something to purify Maotelus, and embrace the brilliance of my master, the Lord of Calamity. For His way is the only way the world will truly be free." she finished, her hand held steadily out before her. The drizzling rain continued in the silence, broken only by the soft, continuous rustling of the tree overhead.

Velvet let out a sigh, turning to the side in irritation. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not interested."

Maltran's offered hand fell down to her side. Her expression had not changed. "Why then?" she asked simply. "Tell me, what is so abhorrent about leaving the Empyrean as he is now? What is so repulsive about leaving another hellion just like yourself be?"

Velvet's left fist curled harshly.

"Because your master is controlling him like a puppet." she snarled. Hatred quickly arose in her features like bubbles in boiling water; a familiar emotion that wrapped her like an all-too familiar cloak.

"And unlike your 'sad, foolish princess' or my own 'weakling Shepherd…'" the therion growled, tendrils of malevolence beginning to seep out of the cracks and enveloping her form.

"…Laphicet is NOBODY'S TOOL!"

With a rough jerk of her left hand, she sent Maltran flying backwards into the cliff wall in an explosion of malevolence. The armored woman crashed down to the ground with a grunt, regaining her footing with an almost feline grace as rocks and rubble crashed down around her, marring her pristine court clothing in the process. She stood once more, blinking rapidly as she took in the sight.

The pulsating, serrated, and infamous claw of history jutted out from the enraged woman's left arm as she stood there, glaring at Maltran with unparalleled fury and drive. She jerked her claw towards her, angling its oversized palm towards her in a clear threat. "Tell your master that the only day he receives a speck of obedience from me, is the same day that I crush and devour his head!" she spat, her eyes pulsing red.

"Now leave. Or I'll eat you too." Velvet ordered with deadly finality.

Maltran blinked a few more times in astonishment in the wake of the woman's threat. Then, a smile abruptly erupted upon her face.

The advisor shook her head, her smile widening as she straightened her ruffled clothing. "…You are just as fierce of a woman as my master said you would be." she remarked in a tone of nothing short of awe. She shook her head, straightening her back and bending over in a short bow. "As you say, Lady Crowe. I shall pass on the message to my master."

"Nevertheless, I do hope you will reconsider." She met Velvet's eyes one last time; respect clear in her gaze. "I very, very much look forward to serving you in the near future."

With that, the woman turned on her heel and exploded into a spontaneous plume of malevolence, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye. Velvet watched as the last remaining flakes of malevolence faded from existence where the woman had stood, her lips pursed.

The therion shook her head, jerking her hand to dispel her hellion claw. Without further ado, she turned on her heel and headed down the cliffside path back towards camp, the last trails of errant malevolence vanishing from her form. Her eyes were dark and emotionless as she stepped away from the scene, full of cold, steeled determination in the aftermath of the reminder of what she stood for.

She'd been delayed too long. It was time to get back to work.

The lone tree waved gently in the winds in the wake of her departure, quietly looking out into the desolate wilderness. Just as it always had.

---
​

The walls of the ancient shrine had barely been discernable as different from the surrounding ridge when the group had approached it, following an almost nonexistent path through the rocky landscape. Only the telltale artificial plainness of the structure had actually given it away as manmade amidst a sea of rock and gravel.

Sorey sighed, shaking his head and wiping the sweat off his brow as he trotted back to the others gathered at the blocked entrance to the ancient shrine. "No luck." he announced dully as he hopped down the last boulder onto the level of the others, Mikleo following in his steps. "There doesn't seem to be another way in."

Rose rubbed her neck thoughtfully. "And you're sure this place here," she gestured at the massive boulder in front of them, "is where the entrance should be?"

Mikleo spoke up. "All of the signs agree that this should be the case. The buried pathway leads right up to this point, and the unearthed portions of the façade all point towards the entrance, as is typical of architecture from this era."

"Perhaps there might be a hidden entrance somewhere?" Lailah proposed uncertainly. "Like… a rolling boulder or something like that?"

Sorey smiled weakly. "Well… I guess it might be possible?" he tried.

Behind him, Dezel let out a sigh, readjusting the hat on his head.

"Ugh. Move."

Having apparently lost all patience, Edna stepped forward, grumpily pushing Sorey and Mikleo out of the way as she came to a halt, glaring up at the massive boulder in their path with the tip of her umbrella tapping rhythmically on the stone below. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate, mana flowing through the earth below to pool just under the surface at her feet.

Sorey exchanged worried glances with Mikleo. "Edna, hold on a sec-!" he began, only to have his collar latched onto by Velvet as he was dragged roughly backwards and behind cover with the rest of the seraphim following close behind.

Velvet gave him a look as she manhandled him to a halt. "You're not stopping her." she pointed out blandly. "Get down and shut up."

Sorey gulped. "But the ruins-!"

Rose chuckled nervously, watching as Edna's form began to radiate a warm amber yellow, an ominous humming filling the air. "Listen Sorey, if you're not careful, you might end up becoming part of the ruins yourself." the assassin warned. "Trust me, when a girl gets angry, you don't wanna get in her way."

Lailah smiled shakily, herself settling down behind cover with her hands held together. "Rose does have a point there, Sorey." she tentatively chipped in. "A woman's wrath is truly something to be feared."

Sorey and Mikleo exchanged glances at that. Behind them, Dezel crossed his arms mutely.

Together, the group watched as Edna's arte continued to grow, the humming growing louder and louder until the very ground itself began to tremor. At the peak of it all, the seraph abruptly slammed her eyes open, letting out a ferocious cry as she raised her foot before violently slamming it down, sending enormous cracks forward with a deafening crash rivaling that of thunder.

BOOM!

Shards of rock and debris detonated in a violent explosion as the boulder shattered into thousands of pieces, flying every which way away from the epicenter. The very earth below their feet groaned in protest as it shook, the tremors echoing through the ground for miles around before finally ebbing in strength and fading away. Coughing and waving their hands in front of their faces in the aftermath of the arte, the Shepherd's group stumbled out from behind their cover, blinking as they tried to discern their surroundings amidst a cloud of dust a debris.

With a flick of Dezel's fingers, the world abruptly cleared with a gust of wind, revealing a single yellow-haired figure standing there in the aftermath before the entryway to the shrine, her dress billowing slightly with the induced breeze.

Sorey blinked in surprise. "Edna!" he yelled, breaking into a jog over to her, carefully keeping an eye on the surrounding structure in case of a collapse. The earth seraph didn't respond as he approached, so he put a hand on her shoulder, trying to get her attention. "Edna…?"

"Ouch!"

Sorey jolted back in surprise. "O-oh! I'm sorry!" he apologized immediately. "Are you hurt?"

Edna pouted at him. "…After using Giant's Strength, my body gets all kinds of sore. Can you just try not to touch me?" she grumbled.

"A-alright." Sorey agreed hesitantly. "T… that was amazing, Edna. But you really didn't have to do that."

"I really did." she sighed, gingerly readjusting the closed umbrella in her hand. "The way things were going, we weren't getting into the shrine until the end of next week."

Mikleo walked over, aghast. "But you could've sent the entire thing tumbling down!" he exclaimed with wide eyes. He glanced around in awe, taking in the little bits of boulder resting here and there in astonishment.

"So what? I didn't."

Mikleo opened his mouth and closed it, seemingly helpless against Edna's uncaring attitude of her recklessness.

She let out a huff of exasperation, gingerly opening her umbrella and resting it on her shoulder. "Listen. You especially." She looked pointedly at Sorey, who blinked in the face of her attention. "Yeah you, Mopey. There's something that you need to learn if you're going to keep doing Shepherd nonsense.

"You make choices." she stated in annoyance. "You pick the path of action that you figure is best and then you see it all the way through. Then, you face the consequences, no matter how severe or how misguided your initial choice was or wasn't." The normin doll on her umbrella spun around animatedly as she rotated her umbrella, holding Sorey's gaze. "If you spend your whole life afraid to take another step, you'll never get anywhere."

She abruptly thrust her hand out, snatching the normin doll and squeezing it violently. "So, quit doubting yourself and just get going already!" she demanded hotly.

Sorey blinked. His expression softened as he soon discerned her true meaning behind her harsh words. "Edna…" he breathed.

The seraph abruptly turned around on a dime, hiding behind her slowly rotating umbrella. "Don't read too much into it." she ordered haughtily, her voice once more calm and blasé. "They're just stupid words that my brother told me. That's all."

Silence followed in the wake of her words.

At his side, Dezel raised a hand to adjust the hat on his head. "…It's not bad advice." he remarked. "I'd say the sooner Sorey learns to follow it the better."

Lailah hid her smile behind a fan of casting cards. "Spoken like a true Edna." she commented happily. "Wise words – short and to the point."

"…Just like herself." Mikleo added with a grin.

The glare Edna gave him in return was vicious. Yet she growled wordlessly as she, for once in her life, came up short in insults against the impudent water seraph. Mikleo's grin in her direction was big and smug, yet also soft, in a weird way.

But he was still an insufferably rude water seraph.

Meanwhile, Sorey slowly gathered himself, shaking his head with determination steeling his features. "…Okay." he nodded, holding her gaze. "Then I'll try and keep Eizen's words in mind." he promised. "Thank you, Edna."

"Good." Edna sighed, glancing over her shoulder at them while shutting her umbrella. "So? Are we going or what?" She gestured impatiently towards the doorway emblazoned with the distinct yellow emblem from the mural.

Sorey nodded determinedly. "Right!"

Together, the group turned towards the ancient structure that Edna's arte had unearthed, staring up at the ancient, hallowed walls meshing with the neighboring rock and stone. Chipped stone leftover from the explosion crunched under their boots as they walked underneath the overhang of the façade, stopping at the two large stone doors emblazoned with the strange-looking yellow symbol. Visually examining every inch of the ancient edifice, Sorey slowly reached out with his hand towards the door, seeking to feel its material.

Yet the moment his palm neared the surface, the symbol lit up fiercely, mana billowing out from beyond the doorway with a hollow roar. The group stepped back in surprise as the doors began to move on their own, driven by the Shepherd's touch.

A pungent wave of ancient, stale air washed over them all in an instant, driven out from the depths of the ancient edifice by the opening gates and into the fresh air beyond. Sorey took a deep breath as he stared down into the imperceptible darkness, preparing himself for whatever was yet to come.

He glanced behind him briefly, finding the confident faces of his companions all behind him in the face of it all. He gave them all a nod and turned back towards the obscured, twisting hallway, inside which his trail awaited him.

"Let's go." Without further ado, he moved his foot and stepped forward.

Into the gaping maw of the abyss.

---
​

"'The Shepherd is granted four powers: earth, water, fire, and wind. They are the blade that shall cleave the Lord of Calamity.'"

The ancient stone slab stood amidst a tall chamber carved from ancient rock, containing the inscribed letters in the ancient tongue prepared exclusively for the Shepherds of the future. Sorey's brow furrowed as he focused on the next line, his brain working overtime to translate the words into common tongue.

"'Scattered across this land are the shrines of trials.'" he continued, reading aloud to the rest of the group. "'They too are of earth, water, fire, and wind. Tests they are of power and spirit. The power is brought forth in the spirit, and the spirit captures the power. With balance may malevolence be purified; with imbalance does the body smolder and burn.'"

Mikleo exchanged glances with Edna before glancing warily around at their surroundings. A heavy, oppressive air suffocated their surroundings, accompanied by a distant, ominous earthen rumbling that seemed to thrum through the very rock they stood upon. Beyond the monument stood a single stone door, from which the rumbling of the earth seemed to radiate from.

Sorey crossed his arms with a thoughtful expression as he finished translating the inscription. "'Test thyself, Shepherd,'" he read, "'and brandish thy might! Rise to the challenge, and stake thy will on the outcome. Proceed to Morgause, Shrine of the Trial of Earth.' …Is what it says." he finished.

Edna tilted her head to the side. "We were right, then." she concluded, her voice echoing off the surrounding stone walls. "Sorey beats these four trials to get power – power that he currently desperately needs. Convenient."

"A test of power and spirit, huh?" Dezel crossed his arms. "We'd better be ready for whatever lies beyond that door there." He nodded pointedly towards the door at the end of the empty chamber they stood in.

"I bet." Sorey hummed, his hand on his chin. "But there's something more to all of this." He turned around. "Lailah, that crest at the entrance, was that…?"

The fire seraph nodded, threading her fingers in front of her dress. "Yes." she confirmed. "It would appear that this shrine is of Eumacia, one of the Five Lords."

Mikleo's eyes were wide. "I thought as much!" he exclaimed. "Then this shrine constitutes a major discovery! One dating back to the Temperance of Avarost, at least!"

Rose blinked. "Hold up, the Five Lords?" she asked incredulously. "You're telling me they're real, too?"

"Correct." Lailah confirmed. "They maintain the balance of the entire continent of Glenwood. All of Nature is composed of four elements: earth, water, fire, and wind. Each one is governed by one of the four eldest seraphim."

"Eumacia, Amenoch, Musiphe, and Hyanoa." Sorey recalled flawlessly.

The prime lord nodded deeply. "The Shepherd's powers are most likely also the result of a fortification of elemental affinity through the blessings of the Five Lords."

Rose shifted on her feet. "When you put it that way, they sound almost like gods."

Mikleo chipped in, "We feel much the same, actually. They're ostensibly the source of our seraphic artes, but we're basically never aware of them."

The assassin bobbed her head, absorbing all the information like a sponge to water. She furrowed her brow. "Okay. So then, if there's Five Lords and those are four of them, who's the last guy?" she asked.

Lailah blinked rapidly in response to Rose's question. Suddenly, she clapped her hands together with a noisy slap as if struck by spontaneous inspiration. "What does a part cat, part owl say?" she asked brightly.

"Me-owl!" she chirped.

Silence.

"…Guessing it's that pesky oath of hers again." Sorey chuckled, scratching the back of his neck while picking up Rose's question. "In any case, that would be Maotelus, the last of the Five Lords." he answered. Standing in the back of the group, Velvet crossed her arms, listening intently.

Rose tilted her head in confusion. "What makes him so special from the others?"

"Well, that's… kinda unclear." Sorey put a hand to his chin as he thoughtfully retrieved his copy of the Celestial Record from his pack. "Maotelus is a mysterious kind of seraph to begin with." he explained, flipping through the aged pages of the book with one hand. "Like, for the Shepherd's spiritual powers, there's earth, water, fire, and wind, but there isn't one for Maotelus."

Mikleo crossed his arms. "My first thought was that he served as a symbolic figure in Five Lords worship," he noted, "but there may be more to it than that. He really is quite an enigma in his various vague mentions along the winding trail of history."

"…Oh!"

Rose snapped her fingers in the air, spinning on her heel and pointing at Sorey. "I knew I'd heard the name before. Maotelus is the seraph worshiped in the Shrinechurch in Pendrago, isn't he? Don't they say that he blesses the entire continent or something like that?"

"One of the Five Lords living in that crumbling old place?" Dezel huffed in disbelief. "Doubt it. If that were the case, I'd have felt the hints of a presence or domain the last time I was in the city."

"Though," Mikleo reasoned, "we don't really know what to expect for signs of presence of the Five Lords. Given the vast uncertainty regarding the nature of the Five Lords, it's not entirely inconceivable that Maotelus well and truly resides within the Shrinechurch and us seraphim simply can't feel him. It is an ancient building, after all – dating back as far as the Era of Asgard, even."

"Huh." Rose remarked thoughtfully. "To think there are things about this world that even the seraphim don't even know." Her eyes drifted up to the crest engraved into the stone slab in front of them. "…Say. What are the odds that we'll run into Eumacia in the flesh here today in this shrine?"

Mikleo furrowed his brow. "It's possible, I suppose." He shrugged helplessly. "Again, nobody really seems to know anything about the Five Lords – even us seraphim."

Edna tilted her head to the side. "Then why not just go on and see for yourself?" she asked. She gestured her free hand towards the door at the end of the chamber. All around them, the air seemed to grow ever more oppressive with the reminder of where they were and what awaited them beyond the passageway.

Sorey stepped forward. "Yeah. Edna's right." He turned around to face them all, his eyes glinting in anticipation and his copy of the Celestial Record cradled lovingly in his left hand. "We can stand here and talk and theorize about history all we want, but there's nothing as satisfying as figuring it out on your own! You can't fathom the true meaning of legends until you've seen their history with your own eyes, after all."

His expression split into a broad grin as he slipped his copy of the book away and waved his friends onwards. "Looks like we'll just have to see for ourselves if there's anybody home." he supposed brightly. "Come on!" he urged, falling into a light jog towards the chamber exit.

Mikleo grinned back. "Right behind you." he replied, matching the Shepherd's eager pace.

Rose chuckled, holding a hand up to cover her smile. "He looked just like Mayvin when he said that. Looks like the best way to cheer our Sorey up is to get him falling head over heels for a pile of old bricks, huh? Talk about night to day!"

"Indeed." Lailah smiled softly. "To the face of a hopeless romantic."

Edna deadpanned as the rest of the group began to follow Sorey and Mikleo at a more sedate pace. "A charitable way to say naïve simpleton." she grunted.

"Hah." Rose scratched her head, her grin abating slightly. "…Still. Will he be alright?" She shook her head, reasoning, "I doubt this is the last time this kinda thing happens."

"…True." Lailah agreed simply, her eyes falling. She didn't reply further.

Walking alongside them, Velvet silently looked away.

A rumbling groan echoed through the chamber as Sorey and Mikleo managed to activate the mechanism to open the sizable stone doors at the end of the chamber right as the rest of the group arrived.

A low, distant moan echoed through the newly revealed stone hallway, sending abject shivers down their spines and their hands closer to their weapons. The group exchanged glances as the strange, distant sound died down, leaving only the constant rumbling of the earth in its wake.

"…Sounds like someone's not very happy." Rose muttered, squinting into the darkness beyond the illuminated gateway. "Why does this place give me the creeps?" she asked rhetorically.

Dezel readjusted the top hat on his head, grunting. "…I can feel the wind." he said, baring his teeth. "It turns sharply many times, and travels for a long time before barely making it here." He crossed his arms, clicking his tongue. "It's a labyrinth."

Edna sighed, tapping the tip of her umbrella upon the stone bricks below. "They don't want to make it easy for us, do they?" she asked rhetorically. "Oh well."

Sorey glanced over his shoulder at Dezel, considering his options. "If you can feel the wind, could you possibly lead us through to where it's coming from?"

"Of course I can." the seraph answered shortly. "I'm not a wind seraph for nothing."

Velvet glanced over her shoulder at the Shepherd. "…There's no guarantee that the wind's origin is where we need to go." she pointed out. "Are you sure?"

Sorey met her gaze and nodded, holding a fist out in front of him. "My instincts tell me this is the best option given what we know." He glanced briefly to his side, a wry smile gracing his expression. "Besides. If I'm too afraid to take another step, I'll never get anywhere." he quoted.

Edna huffed in idle amusement, playing with the handle of her umbrella. "Now he gets it."

Lailah gave them all an appraising look. "Then it looks like we know our next course of action." she summarized. "As such, please, lead the way, Dezel." she gave the seraph a small bow.

"Fine." The wind seraph stepped forward, taking a steady pace despite the darkness of the dingy hallway. "Just don't blame me when we end up in the wrong place."

"I won't." Sorey promised as he too began walking, following behind the seraph into the labyrinth of stone. The group followed behind him without question, deeper and deeper into the belly of the earth.

The distant ominous rumbling of the world around them continued as they traversed the shrine, their footsteps echoing loudly in the disquiet of the abandoned hallways. The distraught moaning that they had heard earlier continued to emanate out from the distance at irregular intervals, seemingly growing louder and louder the more they walked.

After some time, Sorey put a hand to his chin in thought, voicing his concerns. "These hallways and rooms… They're all so carefully and meticulously handcrafted." he noted quietly, breaking the silence. He turned to Mikleo walking at his side. "Just who do you think made this place? Was it always meant to be a trail for the Shepherd?"

The seraph shook his head. "My initial thought was just that, but after closer examination, there's a distinct sense of organization behind the layout of this place that says elsewise."

"You noticed that too, huh?" Sorey agreed with a distinct glint in his eye. "There's repetitions in the design – consistencies that don't really make sense if you think of it in terms of just a puzzle."

"It's almost as if this place wasn't built as a maze at all, but was meant to serve some other purpose during its conception." his childhood friend observed.

"But why would anyone create such a vast space in the side of a mountain? One so expansive, and so well-crafted as well?" Sorey's intrigued expression deepened. "There had to be some reason. Even during the Temperance of Avarost, tunneling through all this rock couldn't've possibly been a trivial task."

Mikleo nodded slowly, similarly bewitched by the mystery.

The group turned another corner, coming across a hallway with walls on each side broken up by evenly spaced doorways leading to darkened, empty rooms. With Dezel at the forefront, the Shepherd and his followers carefully stepped through the musty air, warily eying each room for threats as they passed.

"…Huh?" Sorey abruptly blinked, suddenly breaking off from the group to enter one of the rooms at the very end of the hallway having caught his attention on something inside. "What's that?"

"Hey-! Sorey!" Mikleo exclaimed after him. "Don't just wander off like that!"

Velvet crossed her arms as Sorey returned to them in the hallway, raising an eyebrow. "What's that?" she asked, gesturing with her head towards the object in the Shepherd's hand.

Sorey held the thing up in his hand to show it to the rest of them. It was a pocket-sized doll made of wood with a single arm ripped off. "Look at this." he urged.

Rose instantly recoiled away with a yelp. "Aack!" she exclaimed in revulsion, stepping as far away from the creepy article in Sorey's hand as she dared. "No way! I've got plenty of nightmare fuel already, thanks!"

Edna tilted her head idly to the side as she gave Sorey an amused look. "Huh." she said dryly. "Didn't know you were into that sort of thing."

Mikleo, on the other hand, immediately derived Sorey's meaning, his expression deepening. "No, I see your point." he said. "There should be no way that such a toy made of wood could have survived so many eons in this place. Nothing else in these ruins have been even remotely this well preserved." He furrowed his brow in confusion. "This doesn't make any sense."

Sorey nodded in agreement, turning to Lailah with the doll in hand. "Lailah," he prompted, "have there been any sort of artes placed on this doll?"

In response, the prime lord shook her head, her long hair swaying behind her. "No." she replied. "I don't sense anything abnormal about it. On all accounts… it just seems like a normal doll."

Sorey's thoughtful frown deepened.

Dezel crossed his arms impatiently. "…Hey." he said, drawing their attention. "You going to stand around playing with toys all day or what?"

Velvet put a hand on her hip. "You're here for a reason." she reminded him as well. "Don't get distracted."

Mikleo's eyes stared at the mysterious object for just a bit longer before turning his gaze back up. "…Well, we can always come back here to examine this place in further detail later." he offered.

Shaking himself, Sorey tore his gaze away from the doll in his hands and focused on the task at hand. "Right." He nodded, agreeing with their points. "Then let's keep going." Absently, the Shepherd bundled the wooden toy up in his hands and slid it into his pocket for later research into its origins.

Together, the group resumed their journey through the abandoned underground network, pushing onward into the darkness with the passage of distant wind guiding their steps.

After an unquantifiable amount of time travelling through darkened corridors, the group was abruptly met by blinding bright light seeping around the next corner, accompanied by the distinct, welcome scent of fresh air invading the dusty, ancient musk that had for so long inundated their senses. Pressing forward, the group blinked blearily as they stepped out into the sunlight, slowly letting their eyes adjust to the drastic change of light to take in their surroundings.

Immense, towering cliffs loomed over their heads, forming a jagged square of open air above that allowed for the sun high in the sky to bask the stone courtyard in brilliant warmth. Walls made of the same stone brick as the rest of the underground structure ringed the area, demarcating it as part of the structure itself. There was no other exit to the featureless courtyard – a vast space of tiled stone with no way to feasibly scale the enclosing cliffs.

Dezel crossed his arms in annoyance. "A dead end, after all." he stated blithely.

"So it seems…" Lailah agreed hesitantly, turning her head and observing every inch of the courtyard walls for anything else that might present itself. All around them, the rumbling of the earth continued in the dejected silence.

Sorey stepped forward towards the center of the massive, empty courtyard, himself too glancing around at the enclosed space. "…Well." he said finally, his voice echoing off the walls of the surrounding cliffs. "Looks like I was wrong, guys." He turned around to face the rest of them. "I'm sorry-"

And then the domain washed over them. The rest of the group stared back at him with wide eyes as the barrier arte took hold around them, encasing them entirely inside of a golden dome of powerful energy.

"Guys!" Sorey yelled in alarm.

He watched as Rose inaudibly ran up to the edge of the barrier and slammed her daggers against the side of it, only to have her weapons bounce off its surface as if it were made of steel. Her mouth opened in an inaudible yell; the barrier having completely her off from him. Velvet slammed her sword against the barrier as well by Rose's side, to the same effect. The seraphim, on the other hand, were completely invisible, the domain having snuffed out his resonance and in turn their ability to stay effective. All the group could collectively do was watch as Sorey reluctantly turned to face the owner of the domain all by himself.

The hellion's hooved feet slammed onto the stones with teeth-rattling force as it stomped towards him, its heavy breathing powerful and full of fury. A bull's head sat atop the towering body of a giant, its bloodshot eyes fixed upon the human before it. It clutched the massive oversized axe in its armored fist, letting out a furious bellow as it lumbered closer towards the Shepherd.

Sorey grit his teeth, quickly weighing his options as the Minotaur approached with earth-shaking steps. He glanced over his shoulder briefly at the opening in the wall where they'd entered the courtyard from before quickly dismissing it as an option. Instead, he reached down and drew his sword, holding it readily at his side as the monster lumbered into a full charge, raising its axe high in the air and ready to swing.

"…Sorry." he said solemnly as it approached. "There's no way I'm going to let you hurt my friends."

With that, he broke into a charge of his own, his boots slamming on the stone tiles below as he ran directly towards the towering monster. The rest of the group could only watch helplessly as the Shepherd faced off against the powerful adversary, while they stood there, trapped like rats.

CRASH!

Shards of rock and stone flew in all directions as the axe of the Minotaur slammed into the ground, the pure strength of its blow sending a shockwave thrumming through the neighboring earth. Sorey had barely managed to avoid the impact, having ducked to the side at the very last moment. He capitalized on the slowness of his opponent's weapon, sprinting in to slice his sword against the fur of the Minotaur's legs.

The barely affected monster retaliated by sweeping its axe in a circle, the lethal metal itself cutting through the wind with a whistle. Sorey once again barely managed to avoid the blow, dropping flat against the ground and rolling away from the slicing blade. Forcing himself to keep moving, the Shepherd slammed his boots onto the stone and pushed, charging towards the hellion once more.

He just had to buy them enough time. The group would find some way to break loose, as long as he succeeded in distracting the hellion for as long as it would take. He had to trust in them, just as they were trusting in him.

With that determination burning in his mind, Sorey let out a determined cry, ducking under another one of the Minotaur's swings and releasing a flurry of strikes, imbuing each of them with as much fire mana as he could muster. The hellion recoiled away from the pain of the strikes, howling inhumanly in indignation before abruptly tensing its body.

Sorey was helpless to stop the monster from lashing out with its powerful leg in a kick that sent him flying. Wind whistled in his ear and agony pulsated in his stomach until he tumbled to a disorienting stop at the other end of the courtyard, the world swaying around him. He shook his head, coughing as he forced air back into his lungs.

His eyes widened as he registered the rhythmic thumping on the ground below, a telltale sign of the charging bull about to run him over.

Without a second thought, the Shepherd pushed off into a frantic roll, barely managing to get out of the way of the giant hellion barreling over where he had just been. The slamming of the giant hooves came perilously close to his head as it passed. In the brief respite that followed the missed charge, Sorey scrambled back to his feet, readjusting the sword gripped firmly in his right hand in preparation for another attack.

Yet he abruptly gasped in dismay and horror as he realized where the Minotaur's missed charge was taking it. Directly towards his trapped friends.

Suddenly, the monster skidded to a complete stop, its hooves grating noisily upon the stones themselves as it did so, coming to a complete halt directly before the trapped humans. Without a single glance at the people trapped in its arte, the Minotaur turned and glared once more at him, a strange emotion visible in its inhumane expression.

Sorey blinked uncomprehendingly at the turn of events, even as the hellion began lumbering over to his position with its axe raising menacingly into the air. It wasn't at all interested in Velvet, Rose, or the other seraphim, he realized. It only seemed to want to attack him, and only him.

…Why?

Out of time to think, Sorey once more dove to the side with gritted teeth, rolling out of the way of that axe crashing down once more upon the stones with an earth-shattering crash. The Minotaur, however, having apparently learned from its past attacks, abruptly twisted around, bringing its axe around in a swift follow-up strike.

CLANG!

Sorey's sword rattled violently in his hands as he redirected the massive axe away from himself by presenting his blade at an upward angle, deflecting it with a healthy helping of mana. Quickly capitalizing upon his opponent's distraction, Sorey chose to get as much distance as possible by sprinting away to an opposite corner of the courtyard. There, he had more time to think – to rack his brain as to what he could have possibly done to enrage the hellion.

This all had something to with a supposed trial, he reminded himself. There was something that those who had designed this task for him expected him to do. Something that would prove him worthy in both power and spirit.

He was missing something; he just knew it! But what?!

He watched as the Minotaur once more began to lumber towards him, its bloodshot eyes glaring directly at him with clear hatred in its inhuman visage. Hatred… for him. And only him.

"…Oh." he breathed, his eyes widening in comprehension.

Suddenly, it all made sense.

Quickly, before the hellion reached him with its blade once more, he shoved his free hand into his pocket and pulled out an old one-armed doll into the light of day, holding it up to the approaching hellion. "Is this yours?" he shouted earnestly. "Have you been looking for this all this time?"

A renewed bellow of rage from the charging Minotaur confirmed his suspicions beyond doubt.

"I'm sorry!" he yelled quickly. "You can have it back!" Then, as fast as possible, Sorey drew his arm back and tossed the wooden doll as hard as he could into the opposite corner of the courtyard.

Instantly, the monster lost all interest in him and instead careened to the side towards the tossed doll with its bellows of rage faltering. Its axe dropped to the stones below with a loud clang, utterly forgotten as it knelt down tenderly on the floor, its animalistic breathing low and soft. The comparatively tiny doll was laughably small in its oversized palms as it collected it with both hands, yet it seemed to lose all tension in its body the moment it had done so – relaxing with untold relief.

Just like that, the domain of the hellion lost its intensity, releasing the arte holding his friends hostage and allowing his seraphic companions to become visible once more. Hurriedly sheathing his sword, Sorey jogged back over to his friends, letting out a sigh of relief in the wake of the ordeal. "That wasn't so hard." he grinned weakly as he approached them.

Mikleo let out a breath himself, shaking his head as they reunited with the Shepherd once more. "You have no idea how worried I was." he sighed. "Worse yet, there was nothing I could do but watch!"

"Join the club." Rose muttered sourly. "Y'know, that kind of stuff just flat out isn't fair." She glared over her shoulder at where the arte had trapped her earlier.

"I don't think the Minotauros was thinking fair when it attacked us." Lailah observed quietly. "It would seem that all it wanted was for Sorey to return what he had inadvertently taken."

Together, the group turned and watched as the hellion in question continued to rock back and forth, carefully playing with the toy in its hands.

"Hmph. Looks like it's just a kid in a scary body." Dezel grunted. "We could purify it now, if you want."

Sorey shook his head slowly, turning away from the quiet monster. "There's no need." he decided. "Its not a threat to anyone."

"…Well, I guess we've solved that mystery." Mikleo supposed with a helpless shake of his head. "But, after it's all said and done, what was actually the point of all that?"

Edna twirled her umbrella underneath the sunlight. "To learn not to touch obviously out of place dolls in ruins?" she suggested.

Sorey shook his head again. "No." he replied. "I think… this was a test of character."

An echoing male voice abruptly rang out of nowhere, responding to Sorey's words.

"Spot on!" it crowed.

A flash of light drew the group's surprised attention to the side as a masked seraph robed in white appeared spontaneously out of nowhere before them, clapping his hand steadily as he faced them all.

Lailah's eyes widened. "The Shepherd Pawan?!" she exclaimed.

The seraph called Pawan grinned underneath the partial mask that covered his face as he gave the prime lord a dainty wave. "Lady Lailah!" he chirped. "Still as lovely as ever!"

In response, Lailah sighed at length, shaking her head. "…And you're as creepy as ever."

Rose blinked. "Wait. Hold up. You're a seraph Shepherd? That's a thing?" she asked in confusion.

Pawan shook his head. "Oh, no, nothing like that." he reassured. "As of now, I am formally known as Pawan, the protector seraph of earth." He followed his introduction up with a short introductory bow. "But I was as a human Shepherd once." he explained, straightening his back. "Before I was reborn as a seraph, that is."

In response to their wide-eyed looks, he blinked, tilting his head. "…Is this news to you?" he asked for clarification.

"Well, yes!" Mikleo took an incredulous step forward. "You're telling me that humans can be reborn as seraphim?!"

"That's right." Pawan replied easily. "Depending on how you die, you can transcend your own race. Strange world we live in." He quickly raised a hand and shook it in front of him, waving off any further questions. "Case in point, the world is still full of mysteries for you all to solve." He raised both hands in a grand gesture towards their surroundings. "Not to mention such was also the rationale behind this entire ordeal."

Sorey stepped forward. "Then, does this mean that we've cleared the trial?" he chose to ask.

Pawan turned his head to the side, drawing the group's attention as the docile Minotaur quietly stood up from its seat in the corner and began walking, leaving through the exit to the courtyard with its doll still held quietly in its hands. "…Indeed you have." the protector seraph said, crossing his arms with satisfaction as the Minotaur disappeared fully back into the darkness. "You did superbly well, Shepherd. You didn't abandon your allies, nor did you mindlessly fight your opponent. In the end, I couldn't have asked for a more prudent display of intelligence and restraint."

He nodded affirmingly to himself. "…Your dedication alongside your strength of character altogether give me leave to think that you are worth of receiving the spiritual power of earth left for the Shepherd by Lord Eumacia." He raised his robed hand, spreading his palm out towards Sorey.

"Or rather, I should say, the power to stand against the Lord of Calamity." he elaborated, closing his eyes and concentrating.

Behind Sorey, Velvet's expression hardened.

Suddenly, a different voice resounded out into the closed courtyard, causing the protector seraph to freeze in shock.

"Pawan. Halt."

The two words were spoken in a simple, commanding tone, yet conveyed an overwhelming, intimidating vastness of sheer power and consequence that caused the hair on the back of everyone's necks to stand up straight in alarm. An instinctive urge surged through them all; the animalistic desire to flee and hide at the presence of a being so many orders of magnitude more powerful than them.

For there was no denying the sheer depth of the domain that inundated the world at that very moment.

"I shall address them. You are dismissed."

"U-understood, Lord Eumacia!" Pawan quickly replied, his back straight and respectful. He sent one last glance in Sorey's direction, his eyes wide and incredulous, before he vanished without another word, leaving the group alone in the presence of a god.

Mikleo gaped in astonishment, uncomprehending in the face of what had just happened. "Lord… Eumacia?" he repeated.

CRASH!

The world abruptly exploded in light as a wide, massive column of neon-yellow energy crashed down from the heavens at an unbelievable speed, sending out a tremor that sent the group stumbling around in the wake of its impact. The sheer volume of otherworldly mana surging through the column and down into the ground itself was completely beyond the realm of comprehension for the seraphim and humans as they looked on in disbelief, watching as the beam of light slowly faded.

Leaving a single form in its wake. A single human form.

Velvet felt the breath leave her chest as she stood there, staring at the form of the Empyrean standing before them all in the center of the courtyard. Disbelief and shock racked her mind in a single instant, mingling with the sudden overwhelming wave of ancient memories and events of a time she had long since dismissed.

For in the stark, jagged lighting of the residual yellow energy surrounding his body contrasting with the harsh and obscured rays of sunlight from above, Melchior Mayvin's stern and chiseled features were cast in a harsh glow.

It was a scene torn straight from her past.

To the side, having been separated away from her amidst the blast, Sorey let the arm shielding his eyes from the brightness drop in surprise. At his side, Mikleo blinked rapidly. "A person…?" he breathed. The rest of the group were similarly confused, staring at form of the newcomer in deafening silence that followed his arrival.

At the water seraph's words, the Empyrean opened his eyes, one of which was mildly obscured through the lens of a darkened monocle. He moved and bent his right arm habitually at an angle behind his body clad in a regal white uniform accented with gold while simultaneously pushing the heels of his clean speck-less boots together. His eyes rested upon them all as he addressed the Shepherd's group with an air of utter authority.

"A form derived of a memory." he uttered. "Long ago, this soul dwelled in the body of a human. Now, it is a part of me."

The rumbling of his otherworldly domain punctuated the silence that followed his declaration. His wizened eyes seemed to burrow deeply into the souls of each person in the group, especially focusing on Sorey. He continued, "The very existence of a being such as myself is vast and complex, spanning eons upon eons of history and stained by the actions and intentions of those who have preceded me."

He held his left hand up in a curled fist, accentuating his statement. "Eras have come and gone; the cycle has repeated itself countless times. The values it stood for have all but been forgotten, the cleansing of the consumed soul having taken its toll. And yet even now, after all this time… the memories of this soul do not permit me to stay silent and watch."

The group watched with bated breath as the monstrously powerful Empyrean shifted on his feet, letting his hands fall back against his sides, his gaze slowly drifting away from the group. "Not when the person that had stained its very existence walked so willingly into my domain, reigniting that burning, seething hatred once more. That everlasting stain that has been wrought upon this soul has lasted far beyond any semblance of reason and rationality that it had once contained."

"For the one that stems from it all has none and will never hold the slightest shame for her sins." Emotion had abruptly swelled and seeped into the Empyrean's eyes as he finally rested his gaze upon the object of his burning hatred.

"A monster of irredeemable sin." he declared. "A stain upon the books of history, and a monument to the depravity of humanity."

"Velvet Crowe. Lord of Calamity."

The crackling of the Empyrean's energy mixed with the constant rumbling of the stones that served as the foundation of the courtyard underfoot. A fell breeze by chance managed to filter in through the opening in the cliffs above, moaning eerily as it filled the motionless space between the mortals and the god standing amidst the courtyard.

Sorey's eyes were wide, his knuckles clenched white upon the pommel of his sword. Amidst the thick silence, he dared to swallow and open his mouth.

"…Velvet?" he breathed, almost imperceptibly.

SQUELCH!

Sorey's heart sank in utter dismay as the claw… that familiar claw appeared as plain as day hanging from Velvet's frame as she stepped forward, raising it towards the form of the Empyrean across from her.

"And you're as irritating of an old man as you ever were, Melchior." the hellion growled back; her eyes contorted in irritation.

She tilted her head mockingly to the side. "Whatever happened to your precious Claudin's ideals? How far one falls. Once the manipulators of nations, the Shepherd's right-hand man, and the most powerful Legate in the world seeking to bend the world to his will." her eyes narrowed. "…Now you're just another pitiful cog in the workings of a pathetic, failing world." she observed poisonously.

The once-Legate wasn't fazed in the slightest by her vitriol. "My other desires as a human have long since faded away with time. Only my hatred for you, Lord of Calamity, has lasted over the eons, persisting far beyond the shadows of desire for reason and ideality." He returned his arm to its habitual position behind his back. "…For I am Eumacia, Empyrean of earth. And I shall do my duty to this world without fail."

"How rich." she spat back, letting her pulsating claw fall back down to her side. "Does that duty of yours entail letting the Fifth Empyrean fall to Malevolence? Standing by and watching as the world is thrown into chaos?" Her face had contorted into a ferocious snarl, her human hand clenched tightly into a fist.

"As insolent as ever." The Empyrean was absolute. "To right the imbalances of the world is the task of the Shepherd, and no other. It is his burden to intervene and correct the damages of time, and to defeat those who pose a threat to the very stability of the world itself."

His eyes glared directly at her with pure, unadulterated hatred; one that had been nurtured over the course of a thousand years. "Such as you."

Visibly collecting himself, the Empyrean's expression returned to neutrality as he turned to face the Shepherd himself directly, his jaw set. "…To that end," he told Sorey, "I remind you of your true task, Shepherd." He slowly raised his left hand up into the air, closing his eyes and focusing.

"Do not forget your duty."

With that, the Empyrean vanished in a blinding bolt of yellow mana that once more slammed into the ground with otherworldly force, the resulting shockwave thrumming throughout the mountain and beyond.

And so, Eumacia, the Elemental Empyrean of earth, departed, having left the young Shepherd with his edict.

The enormous amount of power surging through Sorey's veins – the spiritual power of earth – was completely ignored by the Shepherd in the haunting silence that filled the shrine following the Empyrean's departure. Power meant to forge the blade that shall cleave the Lord of Calamity.

Velvet stood on the opposite end of the courtyard, her back facing away from the group towards where Eumacia had disappeared. On her left side, the massive serrated claw of the masked hellion… of Velvet Crowe hung, pulsating gently in the hellion's relaxed stance. A spontaneous, unnatural breeze blew at in the wake of the Empyrean's departure, tugging at the woman's black coat and cascading hair and making her seem all the more foreign in the shocked silence.

Mikleo was the first to break the silence. "…You."

The seraph took a disbelieving step forward. "You attacked us." he mumbled, staring uncomprehendingly at the monster's blood red claw. "You nearly killed me." The disbelief visibly surged through his expression as he tried in vain to grasp the full scope of her betrayal. "All this time…" he breathed, his eyes bulging. "All this time… you've been a monster."

"Yeah."

Velvet's response was so… infuriatingly nonchalant as she turned to face them, her claw hanging idly at her side as she put her human hand casually on her hip. Her eyes were cold, hard, and utterly unrecognizable as she held Mikleo's gaze with careless, detached apathy. "You just never noticed." she remarked with cold amusement.

"How?! How could you…?" Mikleo squeezed his eyes shut, his fists curling.

"…Was everything a lie?" he asked quietly after a pause, his body trembling with raw emotion. "Everything you told us about why you wanted to travel with us. Everything about your own history. Everything about being our friend…" His eyes abruptly shot up to latch onto hers, almost desperately as he took an incredulous step forward. "Were they ALL lies?!"

At Mikleo's side, Sorey's eyes were unreadable.

Velvet looked on, unaffected by Mikleo's outburst. "I told you right from the start, didn't I?" She waved her human hand idly in the air. "I'm someone that does what needs to be done. That's all."

Rose stepped forward; her own expression deathly serious. "And what is that, exactly?" she asked intently, putting her hands on her hips. "I don't get it. Why'd you go all this way, after all this time, tagging along with Sorey while pretending to be his buddy?"

Velvet's eyes were drawn to the side. "I'm sure Lailah can find a way to explain it to you in a manner that doesn't break her oath." she replied dryly, meeting Lailah's eyes with an idly bemused expression.

Eyes were instantly drawn to Lailah.

Mikleo in particular was aghast. "Lailah… you knew?!" he asked in a shaky breath, betrayal rife in his tone.

Lailah's eyes shook with emotion as she avoided their gazes, fumbling with her hands in front of her dress. "I… I-!" she stammered.

"I wouldn't blame her."

Everyone turned back to Velvet as she casually lifted her claw, letting the malevolence seeping out of it trail after it ominously. "I did tell her I'd eat Sorey if she let it slip after all." she smirked humorlessly. "She was only trying to protect you all from me."

"You'd… what?!" Mikleo gaped.

Velvet raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. "You said it yourself. I'm a monster." She slowly clenched her daemon claw into a fist, curling one massive pulsating finger at a time. "If the Shepherd failed to become an adequate tool for me to wield," she explained reasonably, "then I'd devour him and wait for the next one to show up. It was just that simple."

Dezel crossed his arms, his teeth bared. "I take it Sorey fit your criteria?" he growled.

Her eyes fell upon the wind seraph. "Barely." she scoffed. "There were times when I was sure he'd break."

Velvet's eyes went to meet Sorey's directly for the first time, a foreign coldness in her gaze that made her seem completely and utterly unfamiliar to him. "To think such a naïve boy like him could have ever even made it a week as a Shepherd." At her side, the massive claw fell to her side – that constant, constant visual reminder that who he had thought she was had been nothing but a lie. "It was trivial to manipulate him into doing exactly what I wanted him to do, into believing exactly what I wanted him to believe." Her lips twisted into a dark smirk. "To think that a despicable 'Lord of Calamity' such as myself would be able to stay completely undetected, right under his nose." she mocked. "To think that he'd let his guard down so pathetically easily."

Her smile grew, borne of malicious amusement. "To think he thought of me as a friend."

Sorey's teeth gritted. "…Velvet." he growled lowly; his fists curled at his sides.

The emotions ran amok inside of his head, the implications of the horrid revelation flashing through his head in an uncontrollable torrent of utterly vile information, repeating the same conclusion over and over again.

That Velvet was the masked monster.

The thought just didn't seem to compute. His mind simply could not accept it. That his 'friend…' after all this time… had been the hellion that had attacked him and his friends. The masked hellion that had for so long been a strange, enigmatic teacher to him. The masked hellion that had used and hurt an innocent seraph just to test him.

"NO!" a man's frantic, hysterical voice begged. "NO, PLEASE!"

Velvet Crowe…

A mosaic of shifting shadows and brief silhouettes of light. A vision mixed with creeping fingers of obscuring darkness blackening out the world. Amidst it all, a single vague figure could be seen strolling through the chaos.

A Lord of Calamity. The downfall of an entire era of mankind, a thousand years ago. A true, cold-blooded murderer.

No place had been safe from the destruction she had wrought. No life had been safe from her cold, callous steps.

To think, she had been there in the morning after each encounter, acting as if nothing had happened. Every time she had talked about her past, she'd been lying. Everything he thought he knew about the hardened yet well-meaning traveler who he had thought as one of his closest friends along his arduous journey as a Shepherd had been a farce. There was simply no rejecting what Velvet Crowe had been doing the moment she'd crossed paths with him. The conclusion was undeniable; the supporting evidence concrete.

She had been manipulating him since the moment they'd met.

Velvet looked off to the side in the silence that followed, her expression cold. "…What was it you said earlier?" she mused idly. "'You can't fathom the true meaning of legends until you've seen their history with your own eyes?'" She turned back to face him, abruptly letting her claw dissipate back into those covering bandages; the malevolence seemingly vanishing into thin air. "In any case, there was little point in me manipulating you any further. All I need now is to wait until you grow strong enough to do what I need you to do."

She began to walk forward, directly past them towards the exit. "You knowing who I truly am is an inconvenience, but nothing more than that." She tugged a stray strand of the bandage wrapped around her arm as she walked onward, shifting her gaze away from them. "Nothing else has changed."

"Why you-!"

Seething, Mikleo abruptly jerked his staff into existence and settled into a fighting stance. He was abruptly stopped by a closed umbrella blocking his path forward. "Edna?!" he exclaimed.

The earth seraph was uncharacteristically grim. "If you don't want to be eaten alive, stop it." She met Mikleo's eyes strongly. "You're far too weak to take her on as of right now." she warned. "I'm serious."

Mikleo stared at Edna, his boiling emotions surging against her reasoning before ultimately losing the battle. "…Damn!" he cursed, forcing himself to take a step back and settle for glaring hatefully at the monster as she approached.

Velvet gave Edna a small, wordless nod of appreciation as she walked, maintaining a stoic and unreadable expression.

The earth seraph blinked wordlessly in response.

Velvet's shoulder brushed up against Sorey's cloak as she stopped short right behind him, her gaze fixed firmly forward. All around them, the rumbling of the earth underneath the hallowed grounds seemed to be amplified given the proximity of her raw, unobscured presence. The air of a wolf that had finally revealed its true nature.

"Grow strong, Shepherd." she muttered darkly without glancing his way, her voice seeming to echo off the surrounding walls.

"For I have no patience for brittle tools."

With that, the former Lord of Calamity resumed her pace forward, leaving the Shepherd and his companions amidst a courtyard of cold, hard stone.

End of Part 4 – Righteousness.

​

 

[CloudFry]

Author's Note:

I should note before this chapter begins that I've actually made some significant changes to the preceding chapter to increase canon accuracy. It may be best to give it a quick once-over before you move on. Cheers.

(It was just bothering me too much!)

---
​

Chapter 18 – Forward.

"You… IDIOTS!"

The enraged bellow echoed up and down the ancient hallway, bouncing off the hallowed stone walls only to return and assault Sorey and Mikleo's ears, further driving the point home. The two kids winced, their heads hanging lower and their feet shuffling closer together as the deceptively diminutive elder in front of them bore down upon them with the full range of righteous parental anger.

"Just what were you two thinking?!" the elder raged. "Sneaking off on your own to explore ruins without a word to anyone otherwise!" The white-haired seraph let out a breath of pure disbelief at their stupidity, shaking his head. "…To think, if I hadn't come!" his voice trailed off, his face contorted with indignation.

Both of the boys winced again, their fists curled in shame at his words.

His lower lip trembling, Sorey glanced to the side, recalling how at thing had dropped down out of nowhere and cornered him amidst the ruins. Gramps was right. Even with Mikleo there at his side… If Gramps hadn't come and driven it off…

After a pause, the elder spoke once more, this time with a gentler tone. "Sorey. Mikleo." he implored tiredly, prompting the two boys to reluctantly meet his gaze. "How many times must I repeat myself? The hellions that infest our world are a serious threat, to both human and seraph alike." His gaze, obscured by his heavy eyebrows, moved between the two boys in front of him. "You must stop taking such blatant risks, both of you."

Both boys nodded mutely, fiddling with their hands. "Yes Gramps." "Yes Gramps." they both chorused dully, quite noticeably avoiding meeting his gaze.

Zenrus's left eye twitched.

He sighed at length, relaxing his aggressive posture and pulling out his pipe in resignation. "…I see I must prepare to repeat myself some more." he muttered as he stuck the pipe in his mouth. "…In that case, all I ask is that is that if the two of you learn anything from today's ordeal, learn to be more careful." He huffed to himself, turning around and facing the darkness of the ruined hallway behind him.

"The next time you two decide to sneak off into the ruins, know that I will not stop you. I only ask that you let me know where you are going." he uttered to the empty ruins, his expression one of a surrendering parent. "Do not treat this as a blessing." he warned, waving his smoking pipe disdainfully. "It is a simple matter of fact that trying to stop you little scamps from coming into these ruins is akin to trying to halt a firestorm with my bare hands."

A shocked silence followed his resigned declaration. Sorey and Mikleo exchanged befuddled looks behind Zenrus's back, before wild smiles broke out on both their faces. The two 9-year-olds whooped simultaneously, leaping forward and latching themselves onto the poor old man in excitement.

"You're the best, Gramps!" Sorey exclaimed happily.

Mikleo hugged the elder tightly. "We'll be more careful, Gramps!" the young seraph promised heartfeltly. "Don't worry!"

"For sure, we will!" Sorey chorused without missing a beat. "Don't worry, Gramps!"

The aged, powerful seraph stumbled forward, fighting to keep the smile from breaking out on his face. "Blasted children." he grumbled half-heartedly, ruffling their hair even as they stood almost as tall as him. "Come."

Together, the two boys grinningly followed their parental figure as the seraph led them out of the darkened ruins, now completely unafraid of the presence of any hellion with the powerful elder at their sides. They soon resumed their initial chat about the ruins themselves, animatedly arguing over what era the carvings on the walls indicated. The Celestial Record was constantly in play, cited by either party as a rebuttal to the other. Zenrus himself shook his head in bemusement as the two children continued to bicker, his hands clasped habitually behind his back.

Later that day as the setting sun basked the vibrant, rolling landscape of Elysia in a glistening golden hue, Sorey found himself trotting to the familiar house at the top of the hill overlooking the entire shrine. Remembering his manners, the boy slipped his shoes off as he came in, padding quietly on the carpeted stone floor into the warm dwelling.

Sitting cross-legged before the pot suspended over the hearth, Zenrus glanced over his shoulder as Sorey entered. "Something on your mind, Sorey?" he asked.

Sorey nodded absently, kneeling down beside the seraph with respectful posture. "Yes, Gramps." He paused, taking the time to formulate his question properly. Zenrus didn't seem to mind the silence, quietly reaching out to stir the stew bubbling in the pot. The wooden ladle rubbed softly against metal, the sound mixing with that of the crackling flame to create a warm, harmonious feeling. Of being home.

Sorey's thoughts flashed back to the monster that he had seen earlier. "It's about hellions." he began, shifting in his seat.

Zenrus tilted his head slightly to indicate that he was listening, continuing to stir the pot at a methodical pace.

"Well... you said once that hellions are monsters, created by malevolence." Sorey recalled, idly staring at the gently bubbling stew in the pot. "But… what really are they?" He quickly followed up, "I know we're not supposed to fight them if we run into any. I just… was curious." he finished lamely.

The white-haired seraph let out a breath in the silence that followed, continuing to stir the pot in a clockwise direction. Eventually, he let go of the ladle and instead used his hand to bring his pipe to his mouth. "Some here in Elysia would say that hellions are the antithesis of seraphim." he stated, exhaling slowly. "Hellions spawn from malevolence – poison to us seraphim. We are natural enemies, by this logic."

Sorey's brow furrowed. "Natural enemies, huh?"

His expression fell. "But… then wouldn't that make humans like me natural enemies of seraphim too?" he asked weakly. "You once said that humans are what cause malevolence, and that's why seraphim can't live near too many of 'their kind'…"

Zenrus gave the young boy a long, considering look. "...You're worried about your own identity." he stated seriously. "Your place amongst seraphim."

The boy nodded mutely, fiddling with his hands.

The smell of tobacco filled the room as the seraph inhaled through the pipe, slowly exhaling and letting the smoke mix with the rising steam from the bubbling stew.

"…Hellions have always been beings to fear, for all stretches of history imaginable." Zenrus spoke, idly studying the sheening gold of his pipe. "Borne of malevolence, they are raw, untamed beasts, naturally drawn to extremes. That is why I bid you to run should you ever encounter any in person."

"So, they really are just monsters," Sorey began, "just like Mikleo says-"

"Don't interrupt me, child." Zenrus snapped, causing Sorey to instantly zip his mouth shut.

The seraph let out a breath. "…For many, it is of a simple enough matter to place other beings into categories." he continued. "Yet, it is merely a matter of time until those same people inevitably come to the realization that things are never so simple." He turned and met Sorey's eyes directly, his pipe in his hand.

"Heed my words, Sorey." he intoned seriously. "The world is a vast and complex place, full of places and beings just as varied in traits and behavior.

"Be guarded, and carry yourself through its hallowed lands with strength, determination, and an open mind. Listen to what you feel in your heart is right." he finished, drawing deeply from the pipe in his hand.

"…That is all you need to know."

The smoke left his lips once more, trailing upwards and into the air.

---
​

Shepherd Sorey sighed, mutely staring at his own reflection rippling in the clear waters of the lake. The memories of that day from his youth were still clear in his head, even after all the time that had passed.

What is right… huh?

He shook himself, reminding himself of what he was there for. Tearing his eyes from his reflection, he knelt down and dunked the empty pot in his hands into the clear waters with a soft splash, distorting the water. After letting the excess water drain out, Sorey stood with the filled pot and turned away from the quiet lakeside, setting off.

His boots crunched on the mix of gravel and grass as he followed the game trial back. A murder of crows cawed noisily in the distance, nesting amidst the sparse trees dotting the surrounding ragged landscape of the Biroclef Ridge. Sparse clumps of clouds dotted the sky above, intermittently hiding the distant setting sun from view. The air was cold and crisp – still slightly humid in the wake of the drizzling rain that had fallen that morning.

To think that when the day had begun, so many things had been different.

The group had set up camp not long after they had left the earth shrine, finding a dry patch of dirt on the crest of a hill amidst the clearing weather to rest for the night. Silence reigned over the campsite as the Shepherd returned with the filled pot of water, the other members of the group mutely going about their perfunctory tasks settling down for the night. The distant murder of crows continued to caw, filling the silence as Sorey knelt down, placing the pot of water and quietly igniting the prepared bundle of firewood and starter underneath.

The stew was bubbling heartily by the time the group had finished with their tasks, gathering together before the warmth of the campfire. The sun had long since disappeared beyond the distant horizon, leaving the light of the flickering campfire a ship adrift in a sea of darkness. Her features cast in the grim lighting, Rose, sitting cross-legged before the fire, was the first to break the pregnant silence.

"It's time you finally spilled the beans, Lailah." she announced. "We all heard what Velvet said today, but it all doesn't make any sense yet." She furrowed her brow, crossing her arms. "Just what is she after? What did she mean by Sorey being her 'tool?'"

"Right." Sitting beside the assassin, Sorey nodded seriously. "Lailah. Please tell us what you know."

Lailah nodded slowly, threading her fingers together atop her bunched-up dress. "Well…" she hesitated; her expression deeply preoccupied. Yet before she could continue, she was interrupted.

"You won't get too much out of her because of her oath."

The group turned in surprise as Edna stepped forward out of the shadows surrounding the darkened campsite, her expression serious and grim. Tapping her unopened umbrella rhythmically on the gravel underfoot, she said, "You should ask me instead."

Emotions flitted through Lailah's expression. "…Edna." she breathed.

Standing behind Rose, Dezel crossed his arms. "So." the wind seraph concluded. "You knew, too."

At his words, Mikleo got to his feet hotly. "I knew there was something off!" he exclaimed; his eyes wide. "Edna, how could you?!"

"…Edna." Sorey's shadowed expression was unreadable as he asked in a quiet tone, "Is this true?"

The earth seraph held Sorey's gaze resolutely. "That's right." she confirmed with an inflectionless voice. Her umbrella continued to tap rhythmically on the gravel. "I recognized who she was the moment I met you all. I kept the secret about a hellion in our midst to myself. She told me and Lailah what she was after, and I never said a word about it."

Her umbrella stopped tapping. "Feel free to hate me for it." she offered emotionlessly. "If you'd like, I can even leave. It doesn't matter to me."

"But why?" Sorey urged quietly. "Why did she do all of this, and what does she want with me?" He shook his head, clarifying his question, "Just what is she after?"

Edna looked on quietly. "Maotelus."

Rose blinked uncomprehendingly. "…One of the strongest seraphim in the world? What could Velvet possibly want with him?"

"She wants to save him."

A quiet silence fell. The group exchanged utterly incredulous glances at her words, as well as the flurry of implications such a statement created. It was simply too much to take in at once.

Edna abruptly opened her umbrella, raising it to rest on her shoulder as she spun it idly in the darkness. "That's all I'll say." she said quietly. "The rest you'll have to find out on your own."

Dezel's teeth bared. "What?" he said incredulously. "You can't just say something like that without an explanation! Why the hell would Maotelus need a Shepherd to save him? And why would a hellion even want to save him?"

She simply stared back at him; her eyes unreadable.

"Tch!" A growl of frustration echoed in Dezel's throat as he recognized the iron wall he was facing.

Sitting in front of the wind seraph, Rose crossed her arms seriously. "…There's a lot of stuff to unpack from what you just said, Edna. But I guess we'll just have to find out for ourselves if you're not going to tell us more."

Edna nodded wordlessly in confirmation. It was clear to all that there was no more information she was going to divulge in that respect.

"As for how I knew her," she continued, pressing on and answering their other unspoken questions, "I had never seen her before our meeting at Rayfalke. But I recognized who she was, going by what my brother had described in his letters, long ago." She glanced off to the side. "About the person he had once traveled with."

Mikleo blinked, his fists curled at his sides. "…A seraph knowingly associating with a hellion – and a Lord of Calamity at that?" he said in disbelief. "Do you really expect me to believe that?!" he demanded.

"Believe me or not, that's your choice." Her gaze returned to Sorey's. "…You can have me leave, like I said." she said in an inflectionless voice. "I don't mind. But this is all I will say about her – nothing more."

Silence fell in the wake of her words, filled only by the crackling of the flames in their midst. The shadows bordering the sea of darkness around them seemed to shift and warp ominously with each twist of the flames. Their own shadows, cast long by the campfire, danced amidst the quiet.

Suddenly, Sorey stood, gravel crunching underneath his boots.

His expression was shadowed as he faced the earth seraph. "…Okay." he said quietly. "I'll trust you, Edna." His right hand fell habitually to his sword pommel, his fingers slowly rapping upon the ceremonial wood. "I'll trust that you had a reason to keep this a secret, and to continue to keep the rest of it from me."

His gaze swept across all of his companions gathered before him, his jaw stiff. "I've always counted on all of you, for every step of the way down the path of the Shepherd. And I won't stop now." His eyes studied all of his friends; his gaze unreadable. "I'll just keep going forward from here, and trust in you all." He abruptly turned around, putting his back to them all.

"…I don't know what else I'd do." he admitted quietly, more to himself than to anyone else.

The group watched mutely as the Shepherd walked off alone, headed to his bedroll for the night. The silence continued from there, broken only by the cracking and popping of the dying fire in the enveloping darkness.

---

"I'm tellin' ya! That lady barkeep over there is fine! I oughta…"

"You oughta stop drinking for tonight is what you oughta. How many have you had already?"

"Uhm, seven, I think? Wait no…" A hiccup. "…Yeah, sev'n."

A sigh. "You're hopeless…"

A gruff laugh. "That he is. Ever darn time we go drinkin' his ass gets wasted."

"I ain't wasted!"

"Cross-eyed idiot says what?"

"Wuh?"

A raucous burst of laughter rang out over the general noisy dim of the tavern, followed by non-coherent drunken slurs of indignation. Sitting by herself in an isolated corner of the bar, Velvet sighed and focused her hearing elsewhere, idly fingering the nearly untouched glass of red wine in front of her.

All around her, more and more townsfolk were getting drunker and drunker, and were as such growing louder and louder. Some of the information was utterly useless, as always – gossip over local town boys, who stole crop from who, and the like. But every now and then the therion would catch wind of something truly useful.

"Did you hear?" One trader asked, lounging back in his chair while repetitively tapping his beer bottle on the table. "They say that the rumors of infighting between the Church and the Knights are true."

"I'd believe it." his acquaintance replied, pausing to take a swig. "That Captain and the Cardinal were always saying completely opposite things. T'was only a matter of time until that tinderbox caught ablaze."

"From the sound of things, it looks like it'll be up to who the King sides with to truly end the conflict." The trader rapped his fingers on the table. "All I know for sure is that all this uncertainty is bad for business. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll hurry up and figure themselves out already."

"Heh!" the other barked, taking another deep swig of his drink. "You and I must be talking about two different Rolances."

"…Ugh. Ain't that the truth."

The two of them clinked the necks of their beer bottles together before both rearing back and chugging the last of their drinks. The door to the tavern slammed as some villagers left while others fresh off of work stepped into the noisy atmosphere.

Velvet's ears twitched as she registered the footsteps of a lone teen reeking of drink stumbling towards the stool at her side. She turned her head and glared daggers directly at the approaching teen; an unspoken warning clear in her venomous gaze. Predictably, the young man flinched and swerved drunkenly off to the side, seemingly as if he had remembered something else that he had to do. That having been dealt with, she shifted in her seat, focusing her attention elsewhere.

"…Hey. You hear about that Shepherd guy? I heard he's in Rolance." a logger remarked, sipping his drink on the other end of the bar.

One of the barkeeps raised an eyebrow, perfunctorily wiping down the glass in his hands. "That's old news now. I heard from a cousin of mine how he single-handedly routed our forces his supposed powers." He raised the glass up to the light for a closer inspection. "Still sounds like a load of rubbish to me, though. Maybe the drink's finally getting to him."

"Hell, I'd happily let this stuff get to me if it means that there really is a bon a fide Shepherd out there." the logger grunted, coincidentally taking a big chug of his drink. "…Heard from a friend of mine that Rolance might be considering another offensive." he sighed, running a hand through his mangled hair.

"Damn. You're not serious?" In response to the man's glum nod the barkeep sighed, shaking his head. "We can hardly feed ourselves and the crown's thinking of spending the rest of its money on war?"

"I imagine Hyland's feeling about the same right now. We are technically at war right now, after all." the logger replied. "…Wonder where that Shepherd is now." he pondered glumly. "If he's even real."

Velvet ran her finger along the rim of the clear wine glass, contemplatively staring forward. All around her, the dim of talking and laughing seemed to rise and fall like waves of an ocean, engulfing her in a sea of noise. Her thoughts were constantly in motion, considering one course of action after the other.

Suddenly, a feminine shriek rang out over the uninterrupted clamor, drawing her attention.

"Hey! Let me go!" The barkeep demanded hotly, vainly tugging her wrist away from the hand that had clamped around it.

The drunken man leered at her, his breath reeking of alcohol. "I'm just giving you a complement, lady." he slurred, taking a step forward. "It's not nice manners to ignore people, you know…" His free hand rose, poised to land a strike.

His eyes bulged. "I oughta teach you a lesson!" The hand fell.

CRASH!

Suddenly, the raucous tavern fell completely silent, the attention of the dozens of clients drawn to the limp body of the drunk pervert who had just been kicked clean into the wall, knocked out in one fell swoop. Velvet crossed her arms, repeatedly tapping her index finger on her arm as she looked over her handiwork, before turning and facing the surprised barkeep with a softer expression. "…You alright?" she asked.

The barkeep nodded. "I am, thanks for that. But…" her gaze shifted past the other woman; trepidation clear in her expression.

Velvet followed her gaze and internally sighed as she laid her eyes upon the half-dozen burly-looking men stepping towards her, all in varying stages of inebriation.

"…What?" she growled lowly at them, her index finger continuing to tap in irritation.

"I won't say he didn't deserve tha'." one of the men grunted. "But. Ye hit one of us, ye hit all of us. Tha's the rule." Grumbles of assent from the other men accompanied his statement. The man brought his knuckles to his chest, progressively and audibly cracking each knuckle. "Now 'e get to hit back." he sucked in a hard breath. Velvet's muscles tensed.

"GET HER!"

Chaos exploded in an instant, enveloping the tavern into a space of complete and unbridled anarchy. Tables were upturned smashing glass containers and spilling alcohol, chairs were thrown splintering noisily against the walls, and men roared and bellowed as they attacked like a pack of enraged bulls. Those who didn't want any part in the conflict hurriedly scattered out of the building, taking their drinks with them while more brutes looking to dish out justice charged in, aiming to land a blow upon the stranger who had slighted them and their friends.

Velvet danced to a violent rhythm amidst it all, gracefully sliding between the brute attacks of her attackers. Her steel boot whistled through the air as she twisted abruptly, landing with a satisfying crash upon one of them and sending the man flying. Without delay, the therion used her follow-through to twist into a backflip, dodging a wooden chair thrown her way. She kicked off with both feet as she landed, twisting around to strike the head of the lumbering man trying to grab her from behind. He tumbled to the soiled floorboards below, unconscious.

Instantly gauging the distance and trajectory, the woman snapped her foot forward and sent the fallen barstool at her feet flying away at the very same moment that she whirled around to slam her steel boot into the crotch of another attacker, who bent over with a high-pitched yowl. Said attacker was then unceremoniously slammed into the bottom of the bar by her follow-up roundhouse kick right at the same time the barstool that she had sent flying seconds ago slammed into another man on the other side of the tavern, breaking his nose and sending him reeling.

She twisted around, her body poised in a fighting stance as she faced the remaining attackers, her eyes narrowed. The six men exchanged furious glances between each other and nodded before lunging forward as one with ferocious cries, wielding assorted pieces of furniture as clubs. Velvet readied herself, her tongue clicking in annoyance.

"GAH!"

She blinked as one of her six opponents was swept off his feet, only to have his head kicked unconscious by a newcomer woman wearing the clothes of a trader. The newcomer then quickly leapt acrobatically away from the retaliating swing of the man's friends, landing lightly next to Velvet with barely a sound.

Felice Talfryn of the Scattered Bones glanced over her shoulder, sending Velvet an amused look. "Having fun, Velvet?" she asked casually.

"Not especially." The therion raised an eyebrow. "Did Rose send you?"

"Of course."

The two women simultaneously leapt away in graceful dodges as the gang of drunkards reached them, wildly swinging their weapons at the two strangers with roars of fury. Felice bounced off the nearby wall, whirling around to bash her boot into the back of one of her opponents, sending him stumbling into his friend. Velvet, meanwhile, jerked the leg of a bar stool out of one of the men's hands, only to flip it around in her grip and slam it into the side of his head, sending him reeling.

"The boss wanted me to keep tabs on you." Felice explained as the two of them propped up against each other's shoulders, the remaining three men bearing down upon them. She gave her a shrug. "I figured there wasn't any point in trying to hide from you."

Velvet ducked her head to avoid a clumsy slash of a barstool. "Fair enough." With a concise sweep of her feet, her opponent was sent crashing onto the ground, whereupon he was unceremoniously kicked unconscious by Felice. Said assassin leapt back as she was forced to dodge the remaining two men ganging up on her, both of whom were wielding short knives in absolute fury.

Before Felice could pull out her own daggers in response, the two men were suddenly thrown clear across the entire length of the tavern, slamming violently into the opposite corner and falling into a disorganized heap, unconscious.

Felice raised an eyebrow as Velvet stepped forward, flicking her seemingly normal bandaged left arm in the aftermath of her attack. "…You really are one of those hellion-things, huh?" the assassin observed, an intrigued expression on her face.

"No more reason to pretend I'm not." Velvet replied succinctly, resting a hand on her hip. She glanced over her shoulder to survey the results of the battle; her lips thinned.

"I got it." Felice walked across the desecrated tavern, acutely stepping over the heads of the fallen men to arrive at the bar, whereupon she reached into her jacket and plopped a leather pouch full of gald on the counter. "That should suffice." She turned around and gestured towards the door. "Now let's get outta here before the town guard makes things difficult."

Velvet nodded. Together, the two stepped out into the fading light, leaving the wrecked tavern and the collection of unconscious men behind in their wake.

The town was a collection of stone buildings amassed in the center of various patches of farms situated amidst the vast Meadow of Triumph. With their settlement having been built along the primary road between Lastonbell and the capital, the townsfolk were accustomed to strangers coming and going at all times of the day. Trader wagons rumbled in the streets as caravans went about looking for a place to rest as the sun went down. Local farmers walked tiredly back to their homes, their arms and clothing dirty and marred with sweat. In the distance, a group of dogs began to bark at each other, their yips and yowls carrying easily through the plains for miles around.

Velvet and Felice walked amidst the busy streets by the light of the flickering streetlamps, both making a point to avoid any large groups of town guards in the process as they distanced themselves away from the tavern.

"'…If it's evil, the Scattered Bones slay it.'" Felice quoted suddenly.

She gave Velvet a look as the two of them came to a halt at the entrance of town, a good distance away from the rest of the townsfolk and out of earshot. "I gotta say it, Velvet." she remarked. "You're not making things very easy for us with what you've been doing."

Velvet crossed her arms. "You're free to try to kill me, if you'd like." the therion offered. "As for how it'll end for you…"

Felice shook her head, her red hair shifting from side to side. "I don't doubt it'll be ugly. I sure hope it doesn't come down to that." The assassin tilted her head thoughtfully. "But from the looks of things, even the Boss has no idea what to make of you. You're an enigma to pretty much everyone, Velvet Crowe."

"What's so hard to figure out?" Velvet waved a hand disdainfully. "I'm a monster, manipulating and killing to get what I want. Short and simple."

Felice hummed thoughtfully, crossing her arms. "…While that might be true, you also remind me of Rose in a lot of other ways." She gave the other woman a meaningful gesture. "I'm sure she feels the same way as well."

"Do they know where they're going next?" Velvet asked, raising an eyebrow. "The Shepherd and Rose?"

Felice nodded. "They do. They've decided to head towards the next trial, west of the capital of Pendrago in Aifread's Hunting Grounds. They should arrive there in about a week."

The therion blinked. "…That's more information than I thought you'd give." she noted neutrally.

"I see no harm in it." Felice replied, shifting on her feet. "The Boss told me all about how hellions are supposed to be these crazy possessed monsters that spawn out of this Malevolence, and how part of the Shepherd's journey is to help save humanity from them. Still, I look at you and see none of that."

"Looks can be deceiving, as I'm sure Rose found out." Velvet pointed out darkly.

"I'm sure she did." Felice leaned in intently, her eyes glistening in the torchlight as she examined Velvet with a candid gaze. "…Hellion or not, there's no denying that you're a dangerous woman, Velvet. What remains to be seen for us is whether that danger threatens the lives of the innocent."

Velvet sighed disdainfully. "Save your breath. I don't care about that." She let her hand rest upon her hip, her eyes narrowing. "What matters to me when I do what I do isn't good or evil. It's what stands between me and my goal. That's all."

Her bandaged hand fisted tightly. "I'll do whatever I have to, even if it means pretending to be the Shepherd's companion. I'll kill whoever I have to, even if that person isn't 'evil.'" She gave Felice a grim look. "I've had plenty of experience in that regard, trust me. And unlike you all, I don't have to worry about my conscience when I act." Her lips twisted upwards darkly. "That's just a perk of being a monster."

Felice looked on silently; her lips drawn in a thin line. Behind them, the thoroughfares of the town were steadily growing less and less busy, with fewer people and caravans in the streets. The streetlamps on either side of the town entrance continued to flicker, fighting off the encroaching darkness beyond.

"…So then, what is next for you?" the assassin asked quietly, crossing her arms. "What is it that you'll be doing next to achieve what you want?"

Velvet's head turned to the side as she stared out into the darkness of the meadow beyond, her eyes contemplative and her expression partially masked in shadow. Her thoughts flashed back to the various ominous conversations she'd overheard earlier. "I can't have distractions for the Shepherd right now." she stated into the night. "I'll find a way to delay this war that's brewing, one way or another."

Felice bobbed her head quietly. "…If that's the case, you should know that the Scattered Bones have not stopped aiding your 'cousin' and the rest of the Platinum Knights in their battle with the Cardinal. For now." she added.

"Good." Velvet turned her head back to face her; her expression hard. "Then for now, it would seem that our interests align in that respect."

She purposefully lifted her left arm, slowly tightening a loose strand of bandage with her other hand. "Just know this." Her eyes were deathly serious. "If you or your friends ever get in my way, I won't hesitate to devour you all in the blink of an eye. That's a promise."

With that having been said, the hellion abruptly turned on her heel and set off boldly into the dark of the nighttime wilderness, her black coat and hair swaying in the night breeze. Felice watched the former Lord of Calamity leave in silence with a hard expression; her lips drawn in a thin line. In the quiet of the night, the nearby streetlamps continued to flicker, fighting off the encroaching shadows.

And so, time passed.

---
​

The uneven walls of the massive chamber hidden underneath Aifread's Hunting Grounds in the west of Rolance shimmered constantly with waving, otherworldly light that reflected off the deep crystal-clear waters below. The sound of falling water that echoed off the surrounding walls was an eternal constant inside the vast underground space, caused by the distant cascading waterfalls. A complex network of bridges and towers were spread throughout the seemingly never-ending space between the falls which rose hauntingly out of the distant waters like disfigured ships standing defiantly against the ever-present passage of time.

Sorey walked through the shrine bridge by bridge with his eyes focused firmly forward, the others following in his steps. The scuffing of their boots on wet stone echoed loudly off the distant stone walls as they continued to traverse the path of the ancient shrine, their eyes wary and their hands never straying too far from their weapons.

At the head of the group, walking with Sorey and Lailah, Rose turned her head to the side, carefully inspecting her surroundings with a practiced eye. "…I still don't get what that thing that attacked us back there is doing here." She glanced to the side. "You're sure it's a hellion this time?" she asked.

Sorey nodded succinctly, maintaining his steady pace forward as the group transitioned from one bridge to the next. "I'm sure." he confirmed. "The malevolence it gave off was very strong."

Lailah put her hands together in thought. "That book we encountered earlier may be of significance. An excerpt from the diary of a man who had once been called Asura." Her fingers threaded together in consternation. "A man burdened by the role of the Shepherd. One… who seemed to have taken on too much of a burden." Her expression had fallen.

"'Cleave them all,' it had said." Sorey recalled quietly, tapping his fingers on the pommel of his sword. "'Cleave them all.' The last entry was just that phrase, with nothing else written. The remaining pages had all been torn out."

"Cleave all of what, exactly – vegetables for soup?" Rose waved a hand in the air helplessly. "In the end, all the diary seemed to show was a guy who wanted to save the world, and who had a tough time in doing it. What does that have to do with that hellion that attacked us earlier?"

Lailah glanced at Sorey's back worriedly. "…It is safe to say that such a well-preserved diary was intentionally made accessible to those visiting this place. Furthermore, it is unlikely that the caretakers of this shrine, whoever they might be, would allow such a hellion to reside within the shrine on accident." She hesitated, glancing forward furtively. "It might very well be that the hellion that attacked us earlier… is Asura himself."

Sorey took this information in like a sponge to water, his expression unchanging as he continued to walk forward. "…Asura or not, that hellion might attack us again at any moment." He glanced over his shoulder at the two of them; his expression serious. "Be careful, guys."

Rose and Lailah nodded wordlessly in response.

As such, they continued in wary silence. The air itself was humid and damp, yet stale with the scent of ancient stone and dislodged dirt. A large, jagged crevice in the roof of the cavern sent large volumes of water crashing down into the waters up ahead, sending droplets of water splattering upon the low-lying bridge like rainfall, soaking the group as they walked through the downfall.

The droplets pattered noisily off the amber umbrella that Edna rested on her shoulder as walked by herself at the rear of the dispersed group. She raised an eyebrow as she soon noticed Mikleo slowing his steps on purpose in order to match hers, walking alongside her amidst the silence.

She tilted her head slightly to the side in idle curiosity. "…That's strange." she observed aloud. "Have you decided to start acknowledging my presence again, Meebo?"

The water seraph crossed his arms defensively, still walking forward while keeping his gaze firmly fixed head. "I still haven't forgiven you for keeping the secret, you know." he replied shortly.

She tilted her head a bit more to the side. "What are you doing talking to me, then? It's been over two weeks."

Mikleo hesitated. "I… wanted to ask about your brother." he admitted, still not looking at her.

The earth seraph blinked, raising an eyebrow at the strange request.

He finally turned his head to meet her eyes, returning her inquisitive gaze with a peculiar look on his face. "His name was… Eizen, right?" he asked hesitantly. At her silent nod of confirmation, he elaborated, "I wanted to know what sort of person he was."

"What sort of deranged seraph would want to associate with a hellion, you mean?" Edna twirled her umbrella once more with a precise twist of her wrist. "You should say what you mean. It's rude to be dishonest, you know."

His eyes narrowed. "Look who's talking!" he shot back, anger coloring his voice.

She rolled her umbrella once more. "I know." she replied simply.

A strange sort of silence followed, broken only by the pattering of boots on stone and the distant crashing of water.

"…Look." Mikleo shook his head, the latent anger at the earth seraph having abated for the moment. "We've both seen how Sorey's been lately." He sighed, shaking his head. "Ever since she said what she said… he hasn't been the same."

Together, their gazes went to the form of their Shepherd, determinedly forging forward through the ruins with barely a hint of his former enthusiastic self. It was clear that both of them knew exactly what he meant.

"He hasn't once mentioned a single thing about the ruins ever since we entered. I don't think he's smiled for days." Edna observed absently. "It's like he's been going in circles in that head of his, suck in a loop with no end in sight."

"On that, at least, we can agree on." Mikleo shook his head soberly, watching the back of the Shepherd at the front of the group with worry. "It's like he's there, but at the same time he's not."

Edna glanced at the other seraph inquisitively. "We've all been able to tell that. But what's this got to do with my brother?"

He heaved a sigh, opening and closing his left fist in agitation. "I'm worried." he admitted openly. "With each passing day it becomes more and more apparent just how deeply that hellion's words hurt Sorey. How much her betrayal threw his world into disarray." He shook his head, his eyes distant. "…And to be honest," he admitted quietly, "I've been thinking too. About who that hellion really is."

"Calling her by her name would be a good start." Edna's suggestion was quiet.

"Which one?" Mikleo retorted. He waved a hand in the air. "And that's the thing. I can't pin her down. Going by the things you and Lailah have told us about her – going by her own words even – she'd been manipulating us from the start. She'd been so extreme, even going so far as to be willing to sacrifice Sorey's life for her own goals!"

He shook his head, his eyes growing contemplative. "…But even still, she'd been with us for so long. She'd helped us out so many times, and the things she said sometimes were so… genuine." He sighed and glanced over his shoulder; his expression deeply preoccupied. "I just get the feeling there's much, much more to her than meets the eye." he admitted. "That's all."

Edna spun her umbrella around once more, her boots landing steadily on the stone below. "So that's why you want to ask about my brother." she concluded. "To learn more about her."

Mikleo nodded, coming to a complete stop and turning to face her fully. "Assumptions and conjectures are little in the way of cold, hard evidence. When you research the past, you have to gather as much information as you can." he explained. "And that's what I'm after. If I'm to try and help Sorey through this, I have to try and understand exactly who she is. That's all."

"That's all, huh?" Edna's eyes were distant, staring out into the misty air. "Not going to try to ask me more?"

Mikleo's jaw tightened. "I think it's plenty clear now that you're not willing to elaborate to us on what exactly is wrong with Maotelus, and what a past Lord of Calamity could possibly have to do with an Empyrean's well-being." the seraph replied, his hands balled into fists. "I'm just working with what I have," he muttered lowly, "since Sorey hasn't seen fit to cast you out for your betrayal of trust."

Edna shrugged softly; her expression unchanging. "I suppose that's fair."

All around them, the cascading of water continued in the silence that followed, rumbling into the waters surrounding the bridge they stood upon. Basked in the abnormal lighting accented by the rippling of the reflecting waters below, their surroundings were akin to a different world entirely.

Abruptly, Edna turned on her heel and resumed walking, closing her umbrella succinctly with both hands. "My brother hated having others dictate what his life could be." she began.

As Mikleo fell in step with her, she continued, "For example, because of his affinity for earth, he lived at sea. If there was anyone who tried to keep him from living the way he wanted, he fought them tooth and nail. He hated being bound to the laws of others and didn't consider himself a servant to anyone but himself. Every action he made stemmed from that inherent desire to live the way he wanted."

Mikleo furrowed his brow. "Then why didn't he live with you? You said earlier that he had left you, didn't he?"

Too late did he realize the insensitivity of his words as Edna fell silent. He found himself stammering quickly to backtrack. "S-sorry if it's a sore subject-"

"I was the only one he allowed to let influence the course of his life." Edna said softly, interrupting him. The tip of her umbrella tapped in time with her steps forward. "That just showed how much he cared for me."

"I… I don't follow." he said hesitantly.

Edna gave him a dull look. "His seraphic 'blessing' caused misfortune to fall to those around him. It was really more of a curse." She turned her head back forward, angling her face away from Mikleo. "He thought it was too dangerous for me to be near him, so he left. For my own safety." she explained emotionlessly.

Silence fell in the wake of her words, punctuated by the repetitive rapping of their boots on stone.

"Did that answer your question?" Edna's voice was quiet.

Finding his voice, Mikleo nodded, his expression having softened. "…It did." he replied. "Thank you, Edna."

She nodded wordlessly in response. The two of them continued to walk amidst the silence behind the group, side by side at the same pace. In the distance, the final bridge loomed before them all, a massive entryway in the cavern wall leading to a grand chamber that promised to be the end to the trial of water.

The sound of falling water lessened amidst the hallowed air of the vaulted chamber as Sorey and the others stepped forward through the gateway. The large room was empty, save for a closed stone door at the other end, and a pedestal in the middle. Together, they warily approached the center of the circular area towards the preserved book that had been laid atop the pedestal.

"Another part of the Shepherd's diary, it would seem." Lailah noted as Sorey stepped forward, carefully turning the leather cover over to the first page.

The Shepherd nodded. "This one seems to be the complete copy." he observed, flipping through the pages with careful hands. "It looks like what we saw earlier was missing the last few pages." He stopped flipping, quietly reading the text on the aged pages.

Dezel crossed his arms. "I'm tired of this leading around by the nose." he muttered. "They could have just told us what we're supposed to do from the start rather than leave these cryptic clues all over the place."

Lailah intertwined her fingers together before her dress thoughtfully. "It's likely he or she who designed this place made deciphering the Shepherd's objective as part of the trial itself." she conjectured.

Standing to the side, Edna tapped the tip of her umbrella on the stone floor. "Which means nothing that we've seen so far has been a coincidence. It's all been orchestrated to test Sorey, to see if he has the correct reaction to it all."

Standing beside her, Mikleo crossed his arms. "Not much room for error, then." he concluded.

"'…Cleave them all.'"

Sorey's voice drew their attention, his words echoing off the curved walls of the chamber. "'I know now what I must do. Every day, malevolence encroaches further upon the world. I can stop neither disaster nor war. It is no good.'" Sorey slowly flipped the page, reaching the very end of the presented diary. "'…There is only one true way to solve this problem. Only one true way to stop the futility of my actions. I need greater power if I am to do so. To vanquish this malevolence… once and for all. To cleave them all.'" he finished reading, furrowing his brow.

Mikleo's eyes abruptly widened. "SOREY!" he yelled, charging forward.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

The world abruptly erupted into a chaotic flurry of sparks and steel as massive weapons rained down from seemingly nowhere only to slam against Mikleo's hastily erected shield over Sorey and himself. The rest of the group quickly leapt back as a malevolent, multi-armed giant crashed down into the chamber, frothing at the mouth while wielding an assortment of oversized metal weapons in each of his six hands. With an immense breath, the horned beast let out a wild bellow, the sound echoing deafeningly within the vaulted chamber.

"The hellion from before!" Rose yelled as she landed in a fighting stance, drawing her daggers.

Sorey quickly drew his own sword, exchanging a nod of thanks with Mikleo as the seraph dispelled his shield with a flick of his staff. "Everyone, get ready!" he warned as the monster's body tensed. Together, the group scattered as the giant charged, its heavy footfalls causing the ground itself to shake.

Dezel was quick to dodge the spear of the hellion as it zeroed in on him, leaping to the side with a flash of wind mana. He retaliated with a flick of his wrist, sending a pendulum flying into the exposed flesh of the giant's back. It barely seemed to notice the attack, instead swinging back around with another one of this six arms to force the seraph once more into a dodge. At the very same instant, it swept its other arms in tandem, sweeping the metal weapons around with a roar to cause the rest of the group to give the raging monster a wide berth.

"Lailah!" Sorey called, readjusting the grip on the sword in his hand as he intently observed his opponent. "What can you tell me?"

"I'm afraid there isn't much I can offer!" the fire seraph replied, hurtling a fireball at the monster with a swift flick of her wrist. The arte exploded as it collided directly upon the monster's chest, but barely elicited a response as it continued in stride, charging forward like a bull. "This hellion seems to be completely engulfed in rage." she responded. "The most prudent approach to besting it may simply be to match it in raw power!"

Sorey nodded, turning his head. "Rose!" he prompted.

The assassin quickly leapt away from the monster's side, sheathing her knives and giving him a short nod. "You got it!"

"LUZROV RULAY!"

"FETHMUS MIOMA!"

The Shepherd and his squire were engulfed in vast quantities of mana as they fused on the spot with their seraphim in two blinding flashes of blue and red light. When the light faded, two angels of water and fire stood in their places, their eyes ablaze with brilliant golden hues.

Dezel dodged the monster's swings once more, leaping back and quickly readjusting his top hat. "We'll stick to long range artes. Don't let them distract us!" he warned them.

At his side Edna nodded in agreement, focusing her mind before slamming her foot into the stone floor. Her actions forced a spike of stone to violently jut up out of the ground and into the monster, yet it barely even reacted in response.

"WALL OF FIRE!"

Before the frothing monster could retaliate, it was forced to guard with all its limbs as a massive spout of fire exploded from out of nowhere and crawled towards it. Rose's face was twisted into an expression of deep concentration as she urged the flames onward, driving the monster back and away from the rest of the seraphim.

Just as the flames puttered out, the hellion was pierced by a violent barrage of azure arrows, each slamming into its skin and sending it stumbling backwards. His eyes aglow with mana, Sorey drew his arm back once more, angling his bow upwards once more. "Rose, get ready!" he yelled, closing his eyes and focusing.

Not needing elaboration, the armatized squire quickly exploded forward with her longsword held out behind her, charging into the barrage of metal weapons held by the hellion as it attacked her. Sparks flew loudly as she drew arcs of flame with the tip of her long sword, wielding Lailah's flames with graceful swings that rivaled the brute strength of her opponent.

"NOW!" Mikleo's disembodied voice soon rang out, causing Rose to instantly disengage and fall back, just in time to avoid being caught in the line of fire of Sorey and Mikleo's arte.

"ARROW SQUALL!"

The world became one of flashes of blue as a shower of razor-sharp blades of water mana crashed down from above in one relentless burst directly upon the distracted hellion. A roar of agony echoed through the chamber as the arrows hit their mark, each slamming against the monster's skin with an audible thwack.

Anger winning out over pain, the giant forcefully pushed through the agony and shoved himself forward and out of the line of fire, bearing down upon Rose with bloody streaks all over his body.

CRASH!

Only to run directly into the combined artes of Edna and Dezel as they finalized their complex incantations, eliciting a massive explosion of crystalized earth and razor-sharp wind directly at its feet and sending it hurtling back into the wall of the chamber with a deafening crash.

Heaving for breath, the mindless giant recovered from the blow by slamming one of its many fists on the ground, pushing its enormous body back up onto its feet. Its expression was contorted into pure fury, its mouth frothing in rage as it glared at them all, tensing its muscles to charge once more.

Sorey stepped forward abruptly, dispelling the armatus and lowering the sword in his hand, drawing the attention of the mindless beast.

"Shepherd." he called out. "That's enough."

He carefully met the pupil-less eyes of the monster with respect, purposefully keeping his stance straight and unaggressive. "I know who you are, Asura." he announced gently. "And I know what you want."

Behind him, the group exchanged glances at his words, all carefully on edge and prepared in the case the monster resumed its rampage once more.

"You wanted to save the world back then." he continued steadily. "You wanted to stop the suffering and the chaos wrought by the malevolence." He rapped his fingers on the pommel of his sword. "So much so that you came to realize that the only way to really do that… would be to cleave them all." He carefully held its eyes, observing the mad lack of emotion within them.

"That is, to eradicate all of humanity." he concluded quietly. "To truly purge the world of the source of malevolence once and for all."

Asura's rage-filled eyes widened at his words. The raised arms of the furious hellion faltered slightly, its hulking breath hitching momentarily.

Sorey shifted on his feet. "I asked the one who raised me about this, long ago." he explained softly, his eyes distant. "About how humans are the source of all malevolence in this world. He never did give me a clear answer as to what was the right thing to do. All he could tell me that this was indeed the case – that humans truly are the source of it all."

He met Asura's eyes once more, respect in his gaze. "All you wanted to do was to save the world from the malevolence." he intoned softly. He gently rested his free hand on his chest. "As a fellow Shepherd myself, I can respect that desire. I promise."

Asura stared at him unblinkingly in the silence that followed, broken only by the distant crashing of water through the gateway behind them. And then, ever so slowly, the monster's raised weapons fell limply down by its side.

It opened its mouth.

"…It was all I wanted." It growled roughly, its guttural voice coarse and low with remorse. "I tried looking for other answers. I truly did." The hulking monster exhaled slowly, its grip on its weapons pulsing roughly. "But in the end… it was just too hard."

"Your anger towards yourself was what turned you into a hellion, wasn't it?" Sorey said softly, taking a step forward. "You knew what you needed to do, but you knew how much you didn't want to."

Behind him, Mikleo took an alarmed step forward in response to Sorey's bold actions but stopped when Edna sent him a meaningful glance.

Asura the fallen Shepherd nodded slowly; his bared teeth gritted harshly. "They all abandoned me." he growled. "Cast me off as mad. And I fully knew they were right to do so. But even still…" He abruptly let out a shattering roar, whirling around and slamming all six of his weapons into the stone wall of the chamber in absolute fury.

"I HAVE TO DO IT!" he screamed.

Sorey continued to step forward heedlessly towards the fallen Shepherd. "I understand." he promised. "I am travelling down the very same path you did." He shook his head, fisting his free hand before himself. "And I'm still going. I still intend to save this tortured world from the malevolence, as is my duty as a Shepherd."

His fist fell down limply by his side, his eyes distant. "…Even though I'm not entirely sure how to go about doing it."

Breathing heavily, Asura slowly absorbed the young Shepherd's words, his stiff jaw loosening in their wake. Quietly, the hulking monster nodded his head, carefully eyeing Sorey. "…If that is so…"

He paused, before inclining his head, seemingly confirming his thoughts to himself. "…Then perhaps it would be best… Yes, best, for me to pass my burden on to you." His many hands let go of the weapons embedded in the wall beside him as he brought one of his monstrous appendages up before his eyes, his inhuman expression grim. "I… I see now… I see now that I am no longer fit for duty."

Sorey quietly sheathed his sword as he walked forward, respect in his gaze.

"Through the many years of my existence, I lost it all." he muttered blithely, growing reflective. "My companions deserted me. My righteous belief in myself vanished. But most cutting of all… I lost control. I was adrift in a sea of madness, lost by my own desire for prosperity." He let out a low breath as his gaze fell once more upon the Shepherd before him. "…Perhaps you might fare better, young Shepherd." he supposed softly. "Perhaps you might find the answer that I sought, so, so long ago."

Asura angled his head up to the ceiling unseeingly as Sorey approached, his empty monstrous hands falling limply by his sides. "…All I wanted was to save the world." he bemoaned, squeezing his eyes shut with hopelessness. "That was all I wanted." A single tear fell from his pupil-less eye, streaking down his inhuman skin.

Sorrow in the face of his failure.

The feathers on his white glove emblazoned with the sigil of the Shepherd moved in tandem as Sorey raised his left palm towards the form of the monster, his eyes soft. "…Rest now." he said quietly. "I'll do my best, no matter what."

With that, he closed his eyes and focused, unleashing the powers of purification that engulfed the hellion in a conflagration of silver. The flames burned unnaturally brightly amidst the chamber, casting hauntingly long and flickering shadows against the surrounding walls as it consumed the hellion. When it was all over, nothing remained of the fallen Shepherd's legacy but burnt ashes, settling silently on the floor where the hellion once stood.

Slowly, Shepherd Sorey turned his back upon the ashes to face the rest of his followers, his eyes determined. "…Let's go, guys." he urged quietly.

They nodded back in return.

Together, the group sheathed their weapons and walked over to the stone door embedded in the wall, leaving the empty chamber and the opened diary on the pedestal behind. With a gentle touch of the Shepherd's hand, the blue sigil emblazoned upon the door flashed brightly, ancient artes pulling the stone slabs apart with a grating squeal of stone on stone.

Behind, in the final chamber at the end of it all, stood a lone woman in a dress of white and blue.

Power coursed and surged steadily through the domain that they entered as they stepped through the entryway, clearly demarcating it as the aura of the Empyrean of Water. Sorey stepped forward at the head of the group, respectfully holding the gaze of the god as they came to a halt before her.

"You did well."

The woman's voice strong and powerful as she studied Sorey with piercingly keen eyes. "The late Asura was filled with regrets. Ones that you were intelligent enough to discern and express. An admirable job."

Sorey nodded, stepping forward. "I take it you are the Empyrean Amenoch?"

"Correct." The water Empyrean crossed her arms, her body shifting slightly with the action. "…It isn't normal for I as an Empyrean to appear before the Shepherd, yet as Eumacia has chosen fit to do so, it seems only right that I do so in kind." With that, she uncrossed and raised a single gloved hand, hovering two of her fingers in Sorey's direction.

A hum of power filled the chamber as the spiritual power of water seeped into Sorey's veins at the Empyrean's behest, entering his body with a vigorous, acute sense of strength. Flexing his fists in response to the bestowment of power, Sorey respectfully nodded, feeling the strength of his domain growing ever more intense in the aftermath. "Thank you." he said.

Lowering her gloved hand, Amenoch continued to study him with keen eyes reminiscent of a hawk. "Two more trials await you. I assure you that we Empyreans will be following your progress with great interest."

Rose stepped forward. "About that." she addressed the god. "I've got a question for you, if you don't mind."

As the Empyrean's gaze turned to her, the assassin elaborated, "You say you'll watch Sorey's actions, but you clearly don't plan on doing anything more than that. Eumacia also mentioned something about the Shepherd's burden being his and his alone." She tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Is there a reason why you Empyreans don't do… more?" she asked hesitantly. "You're all like, super powerful, aren't you?"

Amenoch nodded in response to the squire's query. "Our role is to represent and embody the four elements that serve as the foundation for this world." she replied. "It is a delicate balance. One that has been carefully maintained throughout much of the history of the world."

"…So." Dezel crossed his arms. "The Shepherd is a mediator. Someone that can right the wrongs of the world by proxy, so that the balance can be kept."

Amenoch nodded. "Such has been the arrangement that has persisted between the Empyreans of the world. The Shepherd is to be the champion that faces the challenges that arise through the passage of time." The regally dressed woman shifted slightly, letting her hand fall from her hip. "…You are all aware of the Lord of Calamity. His presence is one that threatens the delicate balance and is a threat that only the Shepherd can quell." Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "As of now, another roams the land as well. One I believe you are all closely familiar with."

Sorey's expression deepened. "…Velvet Crowe." he answered, his jaw tightening. "The Lord of Calamity from a thousand years ago."

"Her presence is also subject to great interest from us." She placed a single hand on her hip, the blue earring dangling from her right ear lobe swinging softly with the movement. "…As I find myself in the unusual position of having direct contact with you, I would like to offer something to you, Shepherd."

Her steady gaze carefully bore into Sorey's, her steeled expression betraying no emotion. "I offer unique, personal information regarding this second Lord of Calamity that you face." she said as a statement of fact. "It is your choice whether to accept or deny it."

Mikleo shifted on his feet, frowning. "…Does this possibly have anything to do with the person you once were?" he asked. "Like what Eumacia mentioned?"

Amenoch nodded slowly. "You are correct in that the form I take was too once a soul of a human. The memories of this particular soul have returned to me in time. They are accessible if I wish." She crossed her arms. "Regardless, what matters now is what the Shepherd wishes with regards to the information I offer to him. That is all."

Sorey's boot scuffed on the stone as he took a step forward. "…Please. Tell us."

"Are you certain?" Amenoch tested, her otherworldly green eyes seemingly burrowing into his. "You may not react well to direct proof of who the being that associated with you really is."

"Well, that certainly doesn't bode well." Mikleo muttered, crossing his arms.

Sorey shook his head, breaking eye contact with the Empyrean and instead looking away distantly. "…I'm still looking for answers." he admitted. "Just as how Asura himself searched, I too find myself looking for who I really am, and what I believe is right."

Slowly, he turned his gaze back towards the golden-haired Empyrean, determination steeling his gaze. "Please. Share with me what you have seen." he requested.

Amenoch seemed satisfied with his response, nodding slowly. "…As you wish."

Her expression seemed to morph in an instant, her previously emotionless eyes narrowing with acute, vicious rage while her gloved fingers curled fiercely into fists, shaking with rage. "…Then I shall impart to you the true nature of that despicable monster." the Empyrean spat, spontaneous venom coloring her words. "The one that murdered my brother in front of my very eyes."

A shocked silence fell in the wake of her words.

With that, the woman shut her eyes and raised a hand directly towards them all. A low hum filled the chamber, the domain seeming to shift with the Empyrean's actions. The group exchanged glances as a strange warbling sound resounded out into the air, originating from a shining orb that had begun to pulsate on the ground before them.

With one last final burst of colored light, the newly formed iris gem clinked quietly as it landed on the stone at the Shepherd's feet, glowing with an innocuous violet hue.

When Amenoch lowered her hand, the fanged emotion that had so suddenly appeared in her expression had vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, stone once more steeling her unaffected features.

"These are the memories of an event that is important to this particular soul, retrieved from the land itself through the strength of its hatred." she explained, her voice once more level and steady. "With this, I bid you farewell, Shepherd. I shall trust you to do with this information what you judge best."

Her eyes were unreadable as she studied him one last time. "For the sake of this world."

With that, the mysterious woman closed her eyes as if falling back asleep, before being engulfed in a stream of blinding blue mana. The pulsating light soon faded, leaving the group alone once more amidst the empty chamber. Behind them, through the open doorway, the sound of distant flowing water continued to echo through the cavernous chambers.

Slowly, Sorey stepped forward amidst the renewed silence, kneeling down towards the iris gem at his feet. He reached towards the mesmerizing surface of the stone with his gloved hand before hesitating for a split second.

And then he pushed forward and wrapped his fingers around it, enveloping their world in a different time and place.

What they all saw next was a memory borne of a canvas of white, marred by streaks of bright red. One of violence, tragedy, and rage.

Unhindered and clear.

Unmistakable.

The screams of Teresa Linares lasted all the way until she was cut down herself – until the memory itself ended in a slash of red, followed by only darkness. Her last utterance was a pained, delirious repetition of her brother's name, before her ultimate death at the hands of the Lord of Calamity, lying side by side by her slain sibling.

Her horrified, uncontrolled screams of anguish and fury would echo in their ears long after the memory had ended, haunting their dreams at night.

---
​

Author's Note:

Hey, All.

It's incredible to think that it's been a full damn year ever since I began this story. It's even more incredible to reflect upon just how much it's grown – to try and comprehend the sheer amount of readers I've had the pleasure to have and to interact with over the course of said year. You're all absolutely breathtaking, each and every one of you, and I'm honored to have been able to share my passion for these two Tales of titles with you all.

Thank you for clicking, that is, for joining me on this journey of deceit, malevolence, and uncertainty. I very much look forward to the many future developments to the characters, plot, and setting in the coming year.

Oh, and have a (late) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, everyone!

- CloudFry, December 26, 2019

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 19 – Disquiet.

The crescent moon hung amidst a sea of stars and beamed a soft, gentle light down upon the foothills overlooking the darkened farmland. In the distance, past the sea of crop carpeting the rolling hills of the Pearloats Pasture, the lights of the walled capital glowed with a quiet vibrance; at odds with the lonely solitude of the foothills.

Men and women disembarking from their horse-drawn carriages chattered with lively tones in front of the well-lit manor standing in the distance, detached from the calm and tranquility of the shadowed gardens below. Chirping accompanied the noise of the distant chatter, sung by crickets scattered about the vast expanse of well-groomed hedges and flowerbeds of the estate gardens, cordoned off by meandering stone pathways that cut through the dark.

"…ACHOO!"

A loud and raucous sneeze echoed loudly throughout the grounds, rudely interrupting the calm of the darkened estate gardens and echoing off the surrounding foothills. The man who had sneezed sniffed disdainfully, roughly wiping his nose with the back of his leather gauntlet.

"Damnit." he grumbled, his breath misting into the cold air. "Perimeter duty, tonight! Of all nights!" He let out a moan of anguish, running his gauntlet through his hair. "While the rest of the guys are inside, living it up with the guests and probably sampling those hor-whatevers, we're out here freezing our butts off in the cold!"

His companion, a taller, similarly armored man walking alongside him, didn't react to his loud complaints. "They're called Hors d'oeuvres." he pointed out offhandedly.

"Whatever." the guard who had sneezed replied shortly, readjusting the flickering lantern in his hand. "I'm too cold to even think proper."

"Better get used to it." His companion swept the dim beam of his own lantern around before the two of them as they rounded a corner, passing a life-sized marble statue in the process. "We're out here until the party ends, whenever that might be. Cap's orders."

"…Meaning we'll be here until the sun rises." the shorter of the two clicked his tongue sourly, turning his gaze towards the distant figures of undoubtedly well-dressed people hurriedly walking through the cold air into the wide-open entrance of the four-story manor at the end of the gardens. It was more like a castle than anything – a monument to the wealth and prestige of the owner. The guard sighed irritably once more, shaking his head as he resigned himself to his patrol duties.

"What the…" Suddenly, the taller of the two came to a halt, his eyes narrowing as he raised his lantern above his head. "Halt!" he yelled, his voice echoing off the surrounding foothills. "Who goes there?!"

"Ack…! I Uh… H-hey there!"

To their joint surprise, a young man in a strange-looking white cloak stumbled out of the shadows and into the light of their lanterns, holding the palms of his hands out disarmingly. "H-hey, guys." He smiled meekly in the face of their joint scrutiny. "Sorry if I startled you."

The short guard crossed his arms gruffly. "The hell you doin' out here, kid? This here's private property, and I highly doubt you're on the guest list."

The young man waved his hands hurriedly in denial. "I… was trying to get to the capital! I must've gone the wrong way or… something." He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, shifting restlessly on his feet. "The gate was open… so I thought I'd just ask for directions… You know?" he finished weakly.

The short guard sighed, waving a hand in the air. "…Good grief." he muttered. "You're a special sort of stupid, aren't ya? You must've missed the dozens of signs pointing to Pendrago on the way up."

The cloaked youth nodded hurriedly in agreement. "Y-yeah. I must've! Silly me." He took a tentative step backwards. "So yeah… If you guys could just give me directions to the capital, I'll just-"

"Not so fast." The young man froze as the taller of the two guards stepped forward with a dead serious look on his face. "Where's your travel pack?" the guard asked deliberately while steadily holding the intruder's uncertain gaze.

The young man's eyes blinked rapidly. "Er… My pack…? Well uh… that is…" he trailed off helplessly.

The guard clicked his tongue, his hand falling to the pommel of his sword while he continued to hold the nervous young man's eyes. "…Who're you after?" he asked conversationally, taking a step forward. "One of the guests…?" He tilted his head to the side, running his gaze up and down his strange appearance. "No… I bet you're after Senior himself."

The intruder tried vainly to defend himself. "I have no idea what you're…!"

"I'm sure you're from one of the families he's run into the ground recently." The tall guard shook his head gently. "I'll let you know now son, I get it." his eyes narrowed. "But this is how the world is, and there's no way around it." His hand curled around the pommel of his sword, metal squealing on metal as he began to pull. "So, come quietly. Or else-!"

CRASH!

The man had barely managed to pull his sword a third of the way out of its sheath before a dark brown figure flashed out of nowhere and landed directly upon him, slamming him down onto the brick floor and knocking him clean out.

"Wh-what-?!"

The other guard only had time to utter a few words of surprise before he too was knocked out with a swift chop of the attacker's gloved hand which sent him tumbling to the side with his eyes rolling into the back of his skull.

The masked assassin dressed in brown and black carefully followed through with the attack, catching the guard's unconscious body and laying him gently on the bricks underfoot with minimal sound. That having been done, he stood back up and turned towards Sorey, reaching up to briefly uncover his masked face.

Ayn Talfryn gave Sorey a smile as he stepped forward towards the Shepherd amidst the cover of night. "Glad to have you here, Sorey." he greeted earnestly. "It's nice knowing you'll have our backs tonight."

Sorey straightened his back, placing his hand on the pommel of his sword. "What should I do, Talfryn?" he asked readily.

"You're with me." The assassin gestured with his thumb towards the manor higher up in the foothills. "The others should already be commencing their part of the operation. We have to make absolute sure that nobody is alerted throughout the night – not the guards nor the partygoers themselves." He gestured towards the Shepherd meaningfully. "So, as a last resort, use your powers to keep us hidden. Otherwise, just focus on staying out of sight."

The Shepherd nodded succinctly. "Got it."

Talfryn returned his nod. His expression grew less serious as he glanced down to the ground where the unconscious guards lay. "…You know, the Boss is right." he noted conversationally, turning his head back up to give Sorey a wry grin. "You really are helpless when it comes to lying." he smirked slyly.

Sorey scratched his head sheepishly; his face growing red. "Ah, well… yeah." he admitted helplessly.

Talfryn chuckled. "Don't worry about it." he reassured, bending down to tie the wrists of the guards together. "If all goes well tonight, you won't have to do a thing."

Once he'd finished, he straightened up and faced Sorey once more before flicking something towards him. "Oh, and here. You'll need this, just in case."

Sorey blinked and caught the thrown object instinctively. His expression hardened as he took in the appearance of the cold metal object he held in his hands. Its ominous curves and jagged edges made for a terrifying image, even while held innocuously in his hands.

Steeling himself, the Shepherd turned the mask of the Scattered Bones around and slid it over his head, plunging his world into the darkness of anonymity.

---​

Earlier that day…

The ceremonial sword sang as it sliced through the air in broad slashes, its decorated yet sharpened edge being flashing against an imaginary foe. Specks of sweat flew in the air as Sorey kicked into a spin, whirling around with his boots crunching on dirt until his blade had completed a full slash around himself.

He flexed his gloved left hand splayed out before him, his breathing harsh and ragged as sweat trickled down his skin. The heat of the sun hanging high above in the cloudless sky beat down upon his neck, framing him in his stance as he caught his breath.

His eyes narrowed abruptly the moment before he lunged forward once more. His body worked on its own, flowing through the motions as he aggressively launched himself through an imaginary horde of hellions. He parried, dodged, side-stepped, slashed, and stabbed – anything necessary to continue the rhythm of battle. His boots continued to scuff noisily in the dirt below while his cloak whipped around as it trailed his every move. With one final lunge, the Shepherd redirected his entire body, focusing all of his momentum forward.

With a wordless cry, the Shepherd lunged.

The tip of his ceremonial sword quivered ever so slightly in the aftermath of his stab; his blade having been thrust violently through the empty air to the full extent of his reach. An acute silence fell in the wake of his training session, allowing the sound of the rest of the world to seep back into his senses. A gentle breeze blew across the surrounding Pearloats Pasture, sweeping across the endless fields of golden crop underneath the blazing summer sun. Warbling insects could be heard all around him, evidence of the thriving ecosystem under his feet.

After a momentary pause, he finally allowed himself to relax with a huge breath, refilling his lungs with desperately needed air as he worked to tame his rapid heartbeat. He let out a short sigh, wiping his forehead with the back of his glove.

"Sorey."

The Shepherd blinked. He brought his feet back together out of a fighting stance as he turned around towards the source of the voice. "Hey Mikleo." he greeted, still out of breath. "What's up?"

The water seraph crossed his arms as Sorey sheathed his sword, carefully studying him with sharp eyes. Another stray breeze blew across the Pasture, sending the trails of cloth on his back waving in the wind.

After a pause, Mikleo stated dully, "You've been out here for hours." His eyes pointedly dug into his friend's gaze. "If you stay out here any longer, you're likely going to come down with heat stroke."

Sorey blinked. "…Has it really been that long?" He stood up straight and glancing up at the sun high in the sky, absently rolling his sore shoulders. "No wonder I feel so tired." He gave the seraph a sheepish grin as he scratched the back of his head. "Thanks, Mikleo."

The seraph's expression didn't change. He stood there, quietly examining his friend's demeanor as he caught his breath before him.

"…You don't have to shoulder this burden alone, you know." Mikleo reminded him quietly. "We're all here, right behind you."

Sorey's breathing steadied in the silence that followed his words. Slowly, he nodded, quietly drumming his fingers upon the pommel of his sheathed sword.

"I know." he promised softly.

His boots scratched noisily upon the dirt as he turned around, looking absently out into the vast expanse of the Pasture beyond. A spontaneous breeze blew wildly across the plains as he did so, tossing his hair left and right while sending his cloak flying behind him.

"…But even still." He stood up straight with his eyes facing towards the distant horizon as the wind died down. "When it comes down to it, it's up to me what I choose. It's my duty as a Shepherd to face the things I have to, and to do what I judge best."

Mikleo took a step forward, his eyebrows narrowed. "But that doesn't mean you have to shoulder that burden alone!" he implored angrily.

Sorey idly lifted his left hand up into the windy air, staring at the storied sigil of the Shepherds as it blocked out the light of the sun. "I need to find my answer." he intoned quietly. "Who am I? What sort of person do I want to be? What sort of person do I need to be?"

Sorey shook his head, letting his arm fall as he turned back around to face his childhood friend with a soft smile. "…I appreciate it Mikleo, I really do." he promised. "But this is a part of my journey that I need to traverse myself. It's what I need to figure out, as Shepherd. That's all."

Mikleo blinked rapidly. He let out a breath, stepping back and shaking his head.

"…That monster's words had that much of an effect on you, huh?" he muttered, his fists curled down by his side. "Even after what Amenoch showed us, you still think about what she said."

Sorey's eyes were unreadable. His silence was all the answer that Mikleo needed.

"Then what she said was good advice."

Both of them turned as the rest of the group walked up the hill towards them, leaving the nearby small village situated amidst the wilds of the Pearloats Pasture. Dezel crossed his arms as he arrived first, his face angled directly towards Sorey. "Hellion or not," he continued, "the world won't be saved by a soft Shepherd." he sneered. "Toughen up, and then we'll talk."

Arriving by his side, Rose frowned. "Hey, ease off, Dezel." she berated. She turned to face Sorey with a softer expression. "Sorey knows that. That's why he's still going strong," she reasoned, "even after all that's happened."

"Sure." Edna calmly readjusted her grip on her umbrella as she stood amidst the heat of the sun. "He's doing all he can. And he hasn't broken yet."

Lailah nodded deeply with her hands twined before her dress. "You'll get there eventually, Sorey. Trust in yourself." The fire seraph gave Sorey an encouraging smile. "I know you can do it."

Sorey's lips were upturned into a soft smile in the face of their support. He let his hand fall from the pommel of his sword. "Thanks, everyone." he returned.

Mikleo sighed, letting his fist rest on his hip as he met the Shepherd's eyes. "We might not be here to help you with your answer," he finished quietly, "but you can still count on us to follow you, wherever you might go."

The Shepherd nodded. "And I won't forget that. Ever." he promised them all.

Rose nodded back, a fist on her hip. "Good." She abruptly blinked, turning around to face away from the group. "…Hm?" The rest of the group followed her gaze to find a lone man walking up the hill towards them amidst the boiling sun.

Eguille of the Scattered Bones gave Sorey a nod of greeting as he arrived, before meeting Rose's gaze and crossing his bared forearms. "Everything is set for tonight." he stated without prelude. "Squads 2 and 4 reported in and are headed off now to begin their roles. The party is going on as scheduled, and the target is going to be there for sure."

Rose nodded concisely, a serious, businesslike expression on her face. "Got it. Then I'll have to go get ready myself."

"Rose." Sorey stepped forward. "Are you…?"

She turned around and faced them all. "Remember that firm that I was talking to Felice and Talfryn about a while back?" At their nods, she continued, "Well, we received a request, asking us to take out the head."

Mikleo pressed his hand against his chin in thought. "The Romano Firm… was it?" he muttered. "I remember hearing the humans talking about something like that in town. Something about a major success story."

"Exploiting people is a profitable business. That's how it is in the world." Dezel bared his teeth as he crossed his arms. "But some people take it too far."

Rose nodded seriously. "And that's where we come in." She gave Sorey an apologetic look. "It looks like I'm going to have to step out for tonight, Sorey. Got an important role to fill in this one."

Eguille gave the young assassin head a long look, holding her gaze for a moment. "…Rose." he eventually began. "Are you-"

"We've been through this, Eguille." Rose cut him off, putting both hands firmly on her hips and determinedly staring him down. "This is the only way we can make absolute sure that we're in the right. We do it this way or we don't do it at all. Period." She raised a defiant eyebrow, challenging him to say otherwise.

Eguille held Rose's stubborn gaze for a moment longer before relenting. "…Alright. Your way." He gave her a meaningful look. "Just keep in mind what would happen if something were to happen to you tonight." he warned heavily.

"Yeah. I know." She nodded her head before trotting up to the man, playfully rapping his arm with the back of her hand. "Don't worry! It'll all work out." she reassured.

Sorey stepped forward. "Is tonight going to be dangerous?" he asked.

Eguille nodded gravely, tapping his fingers on his arm. "She'll be in a position of great risk." he said. "If things go awry, she'll have little means of escape, not to mention the acute possibility of losing her cover."

The decision simply came naturally to Sorey.

"Then I'll be coming, too." he announced, meeting Rose's gaze. "Just in case."

Behind him, Edna and Mikleo exchanged looks of surprise. Lailah threaded her hands together while pursing her lips. Dezel let out a grunt of approval, crossing his arms. Eguille himself studied Sorey in a new light, carefully considering the young man's determined expression and stance.

Rose stepped forward, herself too quietly taking in Sorey's demeanor. "…You sure, Sorey?" was all she asked.

He nodded determinedly. "I'm sure." He put a hand on his hip with a small smile. "You're my Squire, after all."

Rose's face broke out into a soft grin. "That's right, I am, aren't I?" She shook her head. "…Well, alright then, Sorey. Then I'll promise we Scattered Bones will keep you away from any heavy lifting tonight." She glanced at Eguille at her side before waving a hand easily in the air. "Just be ready to bail us out if we bite off too much than we can chew, alright?"

By her side, Eguille nodded, uncrossing his arms. "With the powers of the Shepherd on our side, I'll feel much better about taking such risks." He gave the Shepherd a respectful nod. "I had you pegged for a determined character the moment we met, Sorey – even more so when you talked Rose into tagging with you. Thanks for this."

Sorey stood straight. "I'll do my best."

Rose crossed her arms, once more all businesslike. "Glad that's settled. So, we'll have to make some adjustments to the plan with Sorey in the mix. I'm thinking we stick him with Talfryn…"

As the three humans began to discuss the logistics of the assassination they were planning, Mikleo crossed his arms in disquiet.

"The Shepherd's answer… huh?" he muttered, furrowing his brow. He didn't like it one bit.

High up above, the blazing sun continued to shine.

---​

Quiet murmurs filled the soft atmosphere as groups of finely dressed guests walked in the same direction deeper into the manor, their dress shoes sinking deeply into the lush wool carpeting the hallway. Dressed in a fine flowing gown of a soft green hue, Rose glanced out the stained-glass windows lining the hallway as she passed them, the patches of tinted light from mounted torches outside flashing over her face. Eventually, she turned the corner to be faced with an overwhelming assault of lights, music, and laughter of the Romano manor's main hall.

A grand, sparkling chandler dozens of feet wide hung heavily from thick wooden crossbeams embedded in the vaulted ceiling far, far overhead. A generous fraction of the surrounding walls was made entirely of stained glass which curved in a luxurious semicircle to expose the occupants of the brightened interior to the darkened gardens beyond. A group of musicians worked in synch with string instruments to provide a constant melody from the adjacent stage, their symphony mixing with the noisy clamor of the dozens upon dozens of well-dressed guests occupying the floor itself.

"Take a good look, miss."

Rose managed to tear her eyes away from the spectacle and to the man that had come to stand beside her. The well-dressed man had folded his arms behind his back, his hands cordially pressed together as he overlooked it all from their vantage point at the top of the stairs. "In this day and age, working hard by itself isn't enough anymore." Behind his back, his fingers absently twisted and turned the plain golden ring worn on his left ring finger as he spoke. "Business nowadays is a chessboard ruled by wits and cunning where a single squandered opportunity could be your downfall."

The well-dressed man in the tuxedo turned to face Rose with grave sincerity, a glint in his eye as he looked down upon her with a peculiar smile. "This… is what winning the game looks like."

"Mr. Romano." Rose greeted with a bright smile, turning to face him. "I'd say 'winning' for you is a bit of an understatement." she remarked lightly, resting a hand on her hip. "You're practically dominating the market these days!"

The man let out a chuckle, shaking his head modestly and offering a hand to the woman who smartly accepted it. "Please, call me Will." he requested smoothly. "I'm so happy you could make it to tonight's gathering, Rose of the Sparrowfeathers."

"Well, what else was I gonna do?" Rose replied easily as she shook the firm owner's hand. "Turn down a personal invite from the head of the Romano Firm himself?" she shook her head in disbelief. "I wouldn't be able to call myself a proper businesswoman if I refused!"

He chuckled in amusement, letting his hand fall back his side with a shine in his eyes. "Indeed. In truth, I am most intrigued by you and your 'Sparrowfeathers.'" Romano confessed. "You, out of all the people in his hall, have shown the most aptitude for smart decisions in recent months. That is, the most potential."

He frowned. "…That as of yet has been squandered." Behind him, his fingers had stopped twisting the lone ring.

Rose herself shifted on her heels, crossing her bare arms over her dress. "Oh yeah?" she asked lightly, raising an eyebrow. "And how's that?"

Romano was still as a statue. "You have a tendency to place others above yourself," he observed matter-of-factly, "choosing to occasionally suspend profits in favor of aiding others. Your profits with your latest food product, for example, were not nearly as high as they could have been had you chosen more established distributors. There are plenty more such examples in the history of your organization, where profit was put aside for a more… altruistic purpose."

"You say that like that's a bad thing." she observed neutrally, her expression betraying no emotion.

Romano eyed her keenly.

After a pause, he slowly angled his head up to the darkened ceiling with contemplative eyes. "In truth, I was once of the same mindset as yourself." he reflected. "I wanted to help those with more needs than I. To help my fellow merchant, and to let them rise up alongside me."

Behind his back, his fingers resumed twisting the ring on his finger. "But that was how my beloved late wife perished." he said quietly. "As a direct result of my own emotional folly."

Rose frowned. Before she could respond however, a different voice interrupted.

"She would've preferred to stay dead, if she saw what you've become."

It was off-putting how quickly Romano's expression darkened. Without moving a muscle, the man in the tuxedo warned dangerously, "Junior…"

Standing behind his father, Romano Junior gritted his teeth and looked away; his fists curled. "Don't think I can just stand here as you throw a party," he seethed under his breath, "celebrating all those things you did to those poor people…!"

"That's enough."

Romano Senior turned to face his son with a grave expression. "You will understand one day, Junior." His expression darkened. "Until then," he growled lowly, "you will obey my orders."

The well-dressed youth sucked in a frustrated breath in the face of his father's fury. Visibly forcing himself not to respond, he turned on his heel and stomped away, pushing himself through the crowd and away from his father without another word.

Will Romano sighed, turning back to Rose with a dramatically softer expression. "…I deeply apologize." he told her. "I've done all I can for my son, providing him with his every need, but ever since his mother died…" He shook his head soberly. "I'm afraid some wounds can't heal overnight. You'll have to forgive his distraught words."

Rose's expression didn't change.

"Not a problem." she replied easily. "Kids can be real silly sometimes."

Her voice carried, above the laughter and the music and the general clamor of the party to reach the ceiling of the hall, whereupon two masked figures watched quietly from the shadows cast by the rafters beyond the blinding chandler.

One of them shifted in his crouched position, facing the other.

"…So this was what Rose meant by doing it 'her way?'" Sorey asked quietly, his voice slightly muffled by the mask on his face. "Talking to her target face-to-face?"

Talfryn nodded, his eyes keenly observing his boss as she continued to chat with the head of the Romano Firm down below. "Boss has never been one to shy away from danger." he explained. "No matter what, she always knows what needs to be done – where the line needs to be drawn." He shook his head in bemusement. "Even if drives Eguille up the wall."

He pointed, directing Sorey's attention towards the form of the teenager angrily pushing his way through the crowds towards the exit. "That's the kid who'll take over operations once we take out Romano Senior." he told him. "A bundle of impulsivity and recklessness, but one with a heart of gold, nonetheless. With him at the head of the family firm, things are bound to get better for their clients."

The Shepherd frowned. "I see."

The Scattered Bones assassin sighed, continuing to observe the people down below with keen eyes.

"…You know, I used to be just like that kid, once. Young and helpless." he reflected quietly. "When we take out his father, that kid's gonna to have to grow up real fast, real soon. Just as I did for my sister."

"Your sister…" Sorey mumbled. "You mean Felice?"

Talfryn nodded, still maintaining a vigilant overwatch over the guests below. "…The world in which the two of us grew up could not have been more different than this." He gestured towards the lavish party below. "I was the first of the two of us to fall in with the Scattered Bones. And I did it to all protect her."

The two of them sat quietly in the silence that followed, both watching the party from afar. Down below, the musicians finished their latest waltz with a flourish, leaving a brief pause in the background before smoothly transitioning into a softer tune.

There was a soft chuckle in Talfryn's voice. "You know," he remarked offhandedly, "my sister gets to be how you are now sometimes, too." Even through the mask, Sorey could see the brief well-meaning smile in his eyes. "Just a little lost."

The Shepherd blinked.

Eventually, he found his voice. "… If you don't mind me asking," he asked quietly, "how did your sister end up joining the Scattered Bones, then?"

To his surprise, his companion let out a huff of annoyance "She said one day," Talfryn quoted grouchily, "'I'll be damned if I'm gonna to sit around while your risk your life protecting me!'" The assassin sighed, waving a hand in the air. "So," he summarized, "after I went through all that effort to make sure she lived a normal life, she just went right up and tossed it all out the window." He shook his head in exasperation. "I'm still annoyed by it to this day."

Sorey found himself chuckling at Talfryn's irritation. "A friend of mine did something along those lines, actually." he remarked sympathetically. "When I became Shepherd, I tried to push him away from it all. But I think that just made him more determined to stick with me."

Talfryn sent an amused glance his way. "Stinks, doesn't it?"

Sorey grinned softly.

Together, the two of them continued to watch over the party like a pair of crows, noting down guard routines and guest patterns. All the while the orchestra continued to play song after song, the lively tunes raising and falling like waves on an ocean. Eventually, down below the very visible, tall figure of Romano Senior traversed the sea of guests to exit the hall through a side door. On the other side of the hall, Rose briefly raised her arm to scratch the back of her head two times, pause, and then scratch three more times.

Beside Sorey, Talfryn abruptly stood up, prompting him to do so as well. "That's the signal." he explained succinctly. "The operation proceeds." He glanced at Sorey meaningfully. "Last chance to back out." he warned. "If you don't want to…"

Sorey shook his head. "I'm coming."

Talfryn held his gaze for a moment longer before being evidently satisfied. "So be it. Follow me."

Together, the two of them traversed the depths and darkness of the Romano Manor, stealing through empty passageways as a pair of masked intruders amidst a night of revelry. The further Sorey followed Talfryn, the more distant the sounds of the orchestra sounded and the less guards they had to avoid. They moved in complete silence, their footfalls quiet and padded as they landed upon the lush carpet of the upper floors of the manor.

Will Romano's study was located at the very top floor, isolated from the rest of the building to allow for the greatest view – a throne room at the top of a castle. Here, the sounds of the party were all but a distant murmur in the air. Sorey and Talfryn quietly padded up to the closed door on either side, the latter pushing his ear up to the finely polished wood to listen in.

Will Romano's furious bellow echoed through the deserted hallway as a flurry of activity came from inside.

"YOU! You dare betray my hospitality?! I'll have you hanged for this!"

With a brief nod exchanged between the two of them, Sorey and Talfryn both moved in tandem, pushing their way into the study. There, in the light of the moon and of the distant party below streaming in from the study of the window, knelt the head of the Romano Firm.

Rose had taken off her mask and hood as she stood there before Romano Senior, a razor-sharp dagger kissing his exposed neck. She was flanked by a pair of assassins on either side, their masks glinting eerily in the moonlight streaming in from the study window.

"Will Romano. Your death was requested by a little girl." she declared solemnly. "From one of the families that you ruined and buried for profit."

Sorey stood quietly at the back of the study, looking on with a set jaw. At his side, Talfryn carefully gauged the Shepherd's reaction as the operation continued as planned.

Romano Senior tilted his head downward, his teeth gritting noisily together in response to Rose's words. "…And you had such potential." he languished. "All wasted!"

Rose's expression did not change as she drew her arm back.

Romano squeezed his eyes shut. "To think… I would be brought down by sentiment!" he spat venomously. "Just as how she…!" Behind his back, his fingers twisted the lone golden ring at an agitated pace.

From behind him, a soft, ever so imperceptible ribbon of purple began to rise into the hazy air. Sorey's eyes widened in horror as he recognized the telltale signs of malevolence. Rose herself jerked to a halt with a gasp.

Will Romano snapped his head up in unadulterated, monstrous fury.

"I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!" he screamed.

The world erupted in chaos as the head of the Romano Firm exploded in a blast of purple miasma, violently sending Rose and the rest of the nearby assassins crashing into the walls of the study. Sorey himself was sent flying backwards into the closed door behind him, his breath being sucked out of his lungs as he crashed down onto the floor. His mask clattered noisily onto the wooden floorboards below as he wearily pushed himself back up, the world spinning around him in the process.

His mind struggled to focus as he got back to his feet, his eyes taking in his surroundings in a split second. His seraphic friends stood vigilant around him, their weapons out and their guards up as the tall, hulking beast that had once been Will Romano charged mindlessly forward, saliva pouring from its fanged mouth.

"Hellion!" Lailah cried in alarm, flames dancing upon her fingers.

"Sorey!" Mikleo yelled. "We need to purify him, now!"

"There's no time!" Dezel snapped, jerking his hand forward.

Sorey watched in slow motion as the giant werewolf bore down upon the first assassin it could find. Lailah and Dezel's attacks did nothing to slow it down as it lunged, its massive claws descending upon the helplessly disoriented assassin lying on the ground before it. Indecision struck Sorey for a split second, staying his hand for the briefest of moments.

And then, spontaneously, her words rang clear as day in his ears.

"My sister once said something, a long time ago."

---​

Above them, the leaves of the lone tree rustled as it swayed from side to side amidst the gentle breeze. Heavier droplets of accumulated rainfall dropped from the leaves down onto the grass at irregular intervals around the two of them, punctuating the silence.

"…As a Shepherd, your job is to face these matters head on, and to shift through the matters of the world however you think is best."

She crossed her arms, carefully watching the emotions flitting through his expression as she did so. "But despite all of it, never forget that you are still alive. Because you're not just a Shepherd, in the end."

She waved a hand errantly in the air.

"You're just another living being, doing what you need to do."

Sorey absorbed in her words like a drowning man clutching onto driftwood, deeply considering every syllable with mixed emotions. The pattering of the rain and the rustling of the trees continued in the silence.

---​

Resolution steeling his nerves, Sorey opened his eyes and channeled the full powers of the Shepherd before letting the arrow fly.

A piercing cry of agony resounded out through the room as the blade of water flew true to its target, sending the hellion flying backwards with an arrow through its chest. Its massive body collided into the window of the study, sending cracks spiderwebbing from the point of impact in an instant. The hellionized body of Will Romano then slumped to the floor of his study, motionless.

A deafening silence fell.

Quietly, wreathed in the power of the armatus, Sorey stepped forward towards the assassin that Romano had been about to kill. His eyes glowed softly with power in the muted darkness of the study as he extended a hand. "You should be there for sister." he said quietly.

Talfryn quietly accepted the offered hand, shakily getting to his feet with a grateful nod to his savior. "…I should." he agreed, visibly calming himself in the aftermath of his brush with death. "Thank you, Sorey."

Sorey turned his gaze towards the motionless corpse in the corner of the study, his jaw set as he looked over the results of his full power. All around them, the rest of the Scattered Bones assassins including Rose herself were collecting themselves in the wake of the supernatural violence that had taken place.

"…May these weary bones find peaceful rest." Talfryn, standing beside him, muttered under his breath.

The two of them continued to stand there in the wake of it all, while the crickets outside in the garden of the estate continued to chirp amidst the uninterrupted clamor of the distant party.

---​

"CHAAARGE!"

The Hyland soldier threw his sword up and out into the air, bellowing out the order with all his might. The rest of his squad took up arms with sympathetic howls, slamming their stirrups into the sides of their horses and angling their lances towards the enemy squad across the hazy plateau.

Caught off-guard, the squad clad in crimson yanked their reins while their own leader bellowed out his own commands, urging his fellow countrymen into a hastily formed defensive wedge.

Within a manner of seconds, the squad of Hyland lancers had slammed directly into the ranks of the opposing squad in an eruption of crashing metal, battle cries, and pained screams. The rumbling of horse hooves crashing onto dirt thrummed throughout the surrounding lands as the battle continued, bodies falling off runaway horses as the remains of the two skirmishing squads regrouped and charged again and again, their numbers whittling down with each exchange.

Amidst the chaos, the Hyland squad leader bellowed his joy to the world as he slammed his lance into the shields of his opponents, splintering wood with reckless abandon. "PUSH! Eradicate these insects!" he roared through the chaos, pivoting with his horse to the side to avoid an enemy lance.

"You bastard!" the opposing squad leader wrenched his lance back as they circled each other, their horses snorting amidst the chaos. "We were in a cease-fire!"

"We were!" the Hyland leader spat, snapping his stirrups and egging his horse forward.

His lance crashed directly into the opposing squad leader's shield, sending the man flying clean off his horse.

Heaving for breath with a victorious grin on his face, he pulled his horse to a halt, angling his lance down to the winded leader lying winded on the dirt below. "Listen closely." he huffed. "This is how wars are won. With initiative." he declared boldly with an iron grip on the lead of his horse. "First your squad, then, the rest of your pathetic nation!" His eyes narrowed. "Now die, dog!"

Suddenly, something in the world changed.

The man's breath hitched as he turned his attention away from his fallen enemy, looking about in confusion as he tried to pin down what exactly was this feeling that had seemed to have taken hold of his heart. All around him, Hyland and Rolance lancers alike had stilled in their combat, all looking about in similar fashion in confusion.

"What the… hell is this?" the Hyland leader muttered.

"…S-sir!"

The call of one of his men drew his attention as he turned to the side towards the edge of the plateau. His eyes narrowed as he saw exactly what it was that had spooked him. A lone woman in black and red with flowing raven hair strolled through the battlefield as if she owned it, her steel boots crunching noisily upon the disturbed dirt underfoot.

Seeing how some of his men were sending confused glances his way, the Hyland commander forced himself to turn his horse towards the potential threat, even as the beast itself tried its best to refuse his commands for whatever reason.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded loudly, his grip on his lance tightening.

Something about her felt completely off, but he simply could not tell what. It made his skin crawl. She came to a halt a good distance away from the ragged collection of lancers, her eyes fixed upon his. His blood ran cold when he realized just then what exactly it was that was wrong with her.

Her eyes were glowing red.

"Leave."

Her low, unnatural growl sent shivers up their spines as it echoed throughout the haunting silence that had fallen. She said no more than that, crossing her arms and glaring at them all expectantly.

The Hyland leader's grip on his horse's reins went slack for a split second before squeezing harshly. "You…" He found his voice, reaffirming himself with a reassuring squeeze of his lance's handle.

"…I don't know what sort of devil you are." He steadied himself, gesturing to his fellow squad members to form up. "But if you want me to run away in my moment of triumph…"

He met the woman's blood-red eyes with pure defiance. "…Then I'll beat you to a pulp myself! GET HER!"

With a revived roar, the remaining Hyland lancers urged their skittish horses onwards towards the threat, bearing down upon the lone woman with angled lances.

Their roars of battle faltered as their world suddenly darkened in tendrils of purple miasma, their eyes widening as that feeling in their chest suddenly multiplied. They watched then as their quarry abruptly lunged towards them as they approached her with – a gigantic, inhuman, blood-red claw extruding from her left arm.

Their screams of terror echoed throughout the basin as she laid waste to them.

She tore men clean out of their saddles as they passed, dodging their uncertain lances with precise acrobatics. Her monstrous claw enveloped the heads of man and horse alike, sending them flying into the distance without a second thought. Her expression was one of pure fury as she tore into them with a horrific, inhuman savagery whilst uttering piercing screams of demonic fury.

It took mere moments for the soldiers of Hyland and Rolance alike to turn tail and flee with pure terror on their faces at the inexplicable, violent appearance of atrue, genuine monster in their lives. They frantically escaped either by horse or foot, using whatever means possible in sheer desperation in an attempt to escape the hellish landscape of whirling purple miasma – the aura of that thing.

In a single instant, what they had thought their lives to be had been shattered upon direct, horrifying contact with the realm of the supernatural. The tales of monsters found only in children's storybooks brought to life in the hellish landscape of the Basin, engulfed in a sea of purple miasma.

They wanted nothing more but to run away from it all.

The Hyland squad leader let out a hoarse yell of terror as he was wrenched off the saddle of his horse, his legs kicking uselessly underneath as the monster held him in its grip. He squealed and yelled with bulging eyes, writhing amidst the wholly unnatural feeling of the pulsating claw's grip.

He stilled as he met the she-devil's pulsating red eyes, his jaw going slack in terror. His mouth ran dry while the beating of his heart raced. He knew he was at her mercy. Any confidence that he had held earlier had completely and utterly evaporated in a heartbeat – any bravado useless in the face of his own doom.

Velvet Crowe held the human's terrified gaze with narrowed eyes.

All around her, silence fell in the wake of the retreat of the two squads, leaving her alone with the inciting squad leader. Her unleashed domain pulsed and writhed all around her, tearing apart the surrounding air while generating an unnatural wind that whipped her hair and jacket around.

Her eyes bore into the terrified eyes of the human in her grasp, where she could perceive her own reflection; the image of a monster that had mercilessly intruded upon the lives of simple humans.

Her lips drew into a thin line.

After a moment longer, she relaxed her claw, letting the leader crash weakly onto the ground. Letting her claw fall lazily back down to her side, she raised a dull, expectant eyebrow as the man stared dumbly back up at her from the ground.

He managed to snap out of it, scrambing to his feet with meaningless whimpers of terror before awkwardly sprinting away in a random direction. Leaving her alone in her domain surrounded by abandoned weapons and rotting corpses. The roaring of the winds of her domain filled the silence that followed.

Yet, she blinked as she vaguely sensed another living being intrude upon her domain, turning her body to face them with a raised eyebrow.

Felice Talfryn walked through the domain of the Lord of Calamity with purpose; her hair actively being disturbed by the extreme forces in the air. She came to a halt before Velvet, eying the clearly visible claw hanging from the frame of the hellion before finally meeting the other woman's eyes. "…My brother almost died during an operation a few nights ago." she announced, her voice struggling to be heard over the roaring winds. "Sorey was the one who saved him."

The hellion didn't react to her words.

The assassin put a hand on her hip and met the monster's glowing red eyes acutely; her lips pursing. "…I don't think you really understand the kind of person you're really making out of him." she stated blandly. "How this is all going to end in the end – both for you, and for him."

Felice shifted quickly on her feet, taking an urgent step forward. "People aren't tools. They're living beings." she insisted. "You have to see that!"

Velvet sighed, looking away. "Anything else?" she asked in an inflectionless tone.

Felice's fists curled as she stepped back. "…Yeah." she muttered. "They're headed to the next trial, this time in Westronbolt Gorge."

Velvet nodded.

Without another word, the Lord of Calamity turned around and walked away from the assassin, her chaotic domain dissipating as she once more suppressed it within her being. Felice watched her leave; her jaw set in frustration. The silence of the Basin continued in the wake of the hellion's departure.

---​

A thick, rolling layer of amassed clouds obscured and suffocated the land below, stretching out until the golden horizon for as far as the eye could see. The distant setting sun hung quietly above the lone tower standing amidst the desolate heavens, illuminating its ancient stone walls in a vibrant orange hue. A violent and volatile gust of wind battered against the walls of the tower, chipping off chunks of weathered stone and sending them hurling into the abyss below.

The Shepherd and his followers braced themselves against the towering wall as the wind slowly died down, careful to keep their feet firmly planted upon solid footholds as they did so. The never-ending exterior walkway extruding out from the side of the ancient tower was barely wide enough for three people to walk shoulder-to-shoulder, leaving them mere feet away from peril with every step.

Mikleo slowly lowered his arm in the wake of the gust, carefully gauging the group's position relative to the sea of clouds down below. "These winds are getting stronger the further we climb." he observed. "This is getting dangerous."

As the group resumed their precarious upward climb together, Edna tapped her closed umbrella on the stone in tandem to her steps behind Mikleo. "If a flying hellion attacks us now," she noted, "we're pretty much toast."

Dezel grunted in response, at complete ease amidst the howling winds at the back of the group. "I dare them to try. I'd feel them before they ever saw us."

"And if it was a dragon?" Edna turned her head and raised a challenging eyebrow at him. "What then, O' mighty wind seraph?"

Dezel bared his teeth at the insolent little seraph. "I'd feed you to it first to distract it." he growled.

"Is that all?" Edna tilted her head to the side, unimpressed. "Such an uninspiring plan. I give it a 3 out of 10. A 4 at most."

Dezel's eye twitched. "I didn't ask for your approval!" he snapped.

"Boring. A 2 out of 10 response."

He let out a wordless growl of frustration in response, crossing his arms.

Mikleo put an amused hand to his chin as Dezel stewed in silence. "Winds aside, I'm starting to think that Edna's tongue might actually be the greatest danger here." he remarked wryly.

Another gust abruptly picked up with a telltale wail, causing the entire group to once more press up against the stone walls away from the edge. Cracked portions of the walkway snapped noisily with the stress of the gales, sending chips of stone hurling away with the wind.

As the breeze once more died down, Lailah lowered her arm and craned her neck up towards the end of the stone monolith above. "…It would appear that we are almost at the top." she observed in the deafening absence of the roaring gales. "Take care, everyone." she advised.

Sorey, taking the lead up the path at the head of the group, nodded; his eyes fixed forward. "Yeah." he agreed, his hand resting on the pommel of his sword. "We're almost there."

Rose let out a breath of relief, scratching the back of her head. "Feels like we've been climbing these ruins for a full year now. I'm practically starving at this point." She abruptly blinked and faced forward. "…Say, Sorey." she piped up. "Weren't you the one doing the cooking tonight? What's on the menu?"

Sorey blinked, caught off-guard. "Erm…" Clearly, he had not given the matter any thought.

Lailah's eyes had spontaneously taken on a bright shine as she clapped her eyes together. "Sorey!" she exclaimed suddenly. "You must make us some strawberry tarts for dessert!"

The Shepherd gave her a clueless look. "I… do?" he asked dumbly.

"Yep." Edna agreed, tapping her umbrella on the walkway. "It's part of the trial. Everyone knows that."

Rose made a show of tilting her head to the side in thought. "Yeah… Now that you mention it, there was something in the ruins earlier that said something like that."

Sorey chuckled nervously. "I'm pretty sure I didn't see anything like…"

"Oooh!" Sorey winced as Lailah clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Not only that, I've just remembered that phrase that has been passed down in ancient texts! 'Thou Shepherd shalt prepare a hearty helping of chocolate pudding for his trial.'" she quoted wisely.

Edna looked on. "I'm pretty certain it was vanilla pudding."

Lailah hummed, holding a finger up to her lips in confusion. "No… I was pretty sure that it was chocolate. I'm really quite certain, actually."

"Wrong. Vanilla."

The fire seraph pouted heavily, giving Edna a silently imploring look behind Sorey's back. She unfortunately failed to elicit a response, however, as Edna just stared smugly back at her.

"Hey!" Rose chipped in, drawing the attention of both seraphim. "Why not do both?" she suggested with a beaming smile. "No reason to take chances when it comes to something as important as the Shepherd's trail, right?" She blinked. "And actually, while we're at it, why not also do some strawberry pudding too? You know, to show your strength of courage or… something."

Lailah's expression lit up brightly. "A very astute suggestion, Rose!" she agreed proudly.

Edna let a self-satisfied smirk form on her face. "It'll do."

Rose nodded in a self-reaffirming manner. "…Then that does it!" she concluded, pointing to Sorey. "Tonight, you're making dessert too – strawberry tarts alongside vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate pudding! You know, for the trial and stuff."

Sorey had wide eyes the size of dinnerplates. "E… er… I don't think I remember any ancient texts saying…" he trailed off helplessly.

Mikleo deadpanned. "Just cut your losses, Sorey." He gave the Shepherd a meaningful look. "Before they decide to give you even more stuff to do."

The Shepherd laughed nervously as he observed the three women heatedly discussing the matter behind his back. "Right…" he agreed weakly. "I'll do that."

Together, the group continued to climb upwards, all carefully staying away from the edge and staying vigilant in the case of further gusts. The moaning winds continued to harry them with every step, tugging at their hair and clothing with keen persistency. In the distance, the setting sun continued to fall from its perch in the sky, meshing with the sea of clouds amassed far below.

"…By the way, Sorey?"

The Shepherd blinked and turned to the side and found Rose carefully increasing her steps to walk directly behind him. "What's up?" he asked, while keeping his eyes vigilantly scanning his surroundings.

Rose crossed her arms, a more serious expression on her face as she walked close behind him. "That new head of the Romano Firm has been making moves recently." she said. "Not everybody likes it, but the kid's shutting down a lot of the shadier legal strategies that the company had been using to exploit people through the years." She paused. "And I'm told that he personally met with the remaining members of the broken families to give them a formal apology and offers of compensation."

Sorey continued his steady pace walking forward. "…That's good to hear." he replied quietly. "It sounds like things are working out."

Rose bobbed her head as well. "Yep." she agreed. "Just thought I'd tell you in case you're still hiding that guilt of yours away from the rest of us."

He blinked. "Rose-" he began.

"Save it." Her expression was stern. "I should know more than anyone how bad that night was for you. Everyone can tell that it was hard on you." She glanced off to the side. "You should listen to Mikleo, alright? Don't cut us off from what you're thinking, no matter what." she urged. "That's really not alright."

Sorey glanced over his shoulder at her with a soft expression. "…Thanks, Rose."

She beamed back. "Anytime." she promised. She then gently nudged him from behind. "…And don't forget the strawberry pudding tonight!"

He smiled weakly. "Yes ma'am…"

The strength of the infrequent gusts battering the tower grew stronger and stronger as they neared the top of the tower, climbing higher and higher into the very heavens. In the light of the setting sun, the Shepherd's group finally arrived at the end of the Shepherd's trial, climbing a set of crumbling stone steps to arrive at a massive stone altar encompassing the entirety of the top of the stone tower.

A lone man clad in a golden-white uniform stood at the center of the circular platform, patiently awaiting their arrival. His left eye was covered by a set of bandages, while his other looked upon them all with a brilliant neon green hue as they approached. His white and blue cape flowed behind him in the wind, following the steady currents of the breeze in a mesmerizing fashion.

"Shepherd." the man standing greeted as the group arrived in the light of the setting sun. "You've done well to climb so far."

"Hyanoa." Sorey greeted, his jaw setting as he took in the man's form. He met the man's eye with his own gaze, his expression sober. Here he stood – the man from the memory, himself but no longer.

"You were called Oscar once… weren't you?" he asked quietly.

The green-eyed empyrean crossed his arms, studying Sorey with a piercing gaze. "…I see Amenoch has passed the memory to you." His eye briefly scanned the rest of the group before once more coming to rest upon Sorey. "You see the form of the person who was once the brother of Teresa Linares." he observed neutrally.

"Well, yeah!" Rose put a hand on her hip reproachfully. "It's hard to forget the awful things that we saw happen to you two..." she trailed off. "Well, who you two used to be."

"Yeah." Sorey nodded slowly, resting his hand on the pommel of his sword. "That memory was… horrible." He looked away.

Hyanoa had not taken his eye off of Sorey, studying him with a hawkish gaze.

"…The soul once named Oscar Dragonia has long since passed, alongside that of Teresa Linares." He shook his head gently. "And now, the world in which those souls no longer exist – our world – is in a perilous state."

He let his crossed arms fall while maintaining eye contact with the Shepherd. "Addressing any threats to its stability is the role of the Shepherd. This is the very edict upon which this world has persevered." His neon-green eye seemed to burrow into Sorey's. He raised a gloved hand, closing his eye and focusing.

Wind roared in the air as mana flowed, seeping into Sorey's body in a bright beacon of light. The Shepherd took a deep breath as the now familiar sensation of the elemental power thrummed through his veins, filling his body with vast quantities of mana at an almost overwhelming rate.

As the winds died down, Hyanoa lowered his hand slowly, reopening his eye. "…I ask now, Shepherd. How will you save this world?" he asked strongly. "How will you address the beings that now pose a threat to humans and seraphim alike?"

It was clear to everyone present exactly what threats the empyrean was referring to.

Sorey's lips thinned. He looked away from the visage of the brother that had once been murdered, gritting his teeth. Hyanoa nodded slowly, seemingly having expected such a response. "It is for you to discover your answer to this question." he stated. "And none other."

"My… answer." Sorey breathed.

The man in the suit of white slowly turned around, facing away from them all with his cape fluttering in his wake like the wings of an angel. The setting sun peeked out from behind the clouds behind him, framing his figure amidst the altar in a canvas of gold.

When he spoke next, his voice had changed.

"…I revile what that monster did to my beloved sister." the empyrean muttered. "How she killed the both of us, then sacrificed our very souls."

Oscar Dragonia briefly glanced over his shoulder at the Shepherd's group, his lone eye ablaze with cool rage. "…Mark my words. The monster that killed me knows no bounds for her actions, nor holds any regard for the sheer extent of her hypocrisy. She will threaten the safety of the world, if not today, then tomorrow."

He turned away; his curled fists visible in the light of the setting sun. "You must do something about her." the man muttered; his voice barely audible.

"You must."

With that, the empyrean of wind strolled forward and became engulfed in a blinding pillar of neon green light, rising up even higher into the quickly darkening skies. The crackling pillar of mana soon faded, leaving the group alone in the silent altar amidst the volatile winds.

Sorey grit his teeth, turning away from where Hyanoa had disappeared. "…I know." he muttered under his breath.

Lailah looked on with worry. "Sorey…" she breathed softly.

Rose exchanged looks with Mikleo. Edna turned her umbrella in her hands, playing with the stuffed doll hanging off the handle. Dezel crossed his arms, his expression unreadable. Before any of them could speak however, they were interrupted by an amused chuckle ringing out throughout the altar.

"The ire of the Empyreans themselves?"

The group whirled around in alarm as a woman dropped down from the pillars surrounding the altar to land before them with her steel boots crashing down upon stone. She stood up slowly, casually readjusting her magenta ponytail to the side with a gauntleted hand while her azure dress resettled around her.

"She really is something else." Her lips curled into an amused smile as she returned their gazes.

Sorey stepped forward in astonishment. "Maltran?!" he exclaimed in shock. "What are you…?!" His breath hitched as he felt the sensation radiating out from the woman's form.

Alisha's mentor hummed idly as she studied him, resting her gauntleted hand on her hip. "You can sense it now. Impressive." She waved her free hand in the air. "Figures that the elemental powers of the Shepherd himself are nothing to sneeze at."

Sorey's expression had darkened. "…You're a hellion." he stated darkly.

Lailah gasped.

Mikleo stepped forward in shock. "You mean to tell me that Alisha's mentor… has been a hellion this entire time?!"

The military advisor crossed her arms before her corset with an amused expression. "Indeed. As your boy Shepherd has so smartly observed." She shook her head, turning her gaze towards the young man in question. "Yet that stupid, insufferable princess was not the reason that I came." Her smile deepened as she watched Sorey clench his teeth in response to her flippant words.

She casually readjusted her ponytail behind her head. "I can hardly incite war between Rolance and Hyland if they're all scared stiff of a clawed monster indiscriminately attacking those in the battlefield, now can I?"

Mikleo's eyes were wide. "A clawed monster…?" he breathed. "You don't mean…!"

Edna tapped her umbrella on the stone once. "Velvet."

Rose crossed her arms seriously, her brow furrowed in thought. "So Velvet's been going around, scaring soldiers into not fighting?" She blinked, uncrossing her arms. "…Hold on. A 'clawed' monster?" She turned her head to Lailah in confusion. "I thought normal humans couldn't see hellions?"

The fire seraph looked down as she pursed her lips. "…Her domain influences the humans inside of it, artificially increasing their resonance." she explained quietly. "She told me of this herself."

Dezel let out an incredulous breath. "What?!" he demanded.

Sorey set his jaw and turned back to Maltran with narrowed eyes. "…Then, because of what she's been doing," he concluded lowly, "you're here to pit me against her."

"Of course." Maltran agreed openly as she shifted on her boots, once more resting a gauntleted hand on her hip.

"My Master shares a common goal with you, Shepherd." she declared. "Velvet Crowe has chosen to act on her own, going up against my Master rather than appreciating the beauty behind His plan."

She sighed at length, shaking her head in disappointment. "And such a shame at that." she remarked sadly. "Had the two of them shared a similar vision, the likes of you would have never stood a chance before their combined might."

Mikleo briefly glanced at Lailah in confusion. "Velvet and Heldalf are butting heads?" he muttered. "Just what does that have to do with her…?"

He held his tongue as he noticed Edna giving him a sharp look.

Maltran's gaze returned to Sorey's. "…Nevertheless." she continued. "She is hellion with incredible strength matching that of the Lord of Calamity. You, Shepherd, have proven yourself far too much of a bleeding heart to simply ignore her running free." The advisor gestured her head behind her to the altar where Hyanoa had addressed them. "Especially with everything that you know now."

Metal clinked as she raised a gauntleted hand in the air, splaying out her palm towards Sorey in a reasonable gesture. "The way we see it, it would better for both and us if she were to be… addressed. Properly." She tilted her head slightly to the side, raising an expectant eyebrow. "Do you not agree?"

Mikleo took an enraged step forward. "And why the world would we listen a monster who is actively manipulating our friend?!" he demanded hotly.

Maltran's eyes narrowed. "Because your Shepherd is far, far too insufferably good-natured to turn a blind eye on Velvet Crowe's existence." she sneered. She crossed her arms again, holding Sorey's gaze. "And when faced with two threats on the battlefield, one should always focus on first eliminating the lesser of the two."

Malevolence began to visibly seep out of the advisor's being, cloaking her features and blotting out the setting sun behind her. "Shepherd. Know that my Master is far, far more powerful than Velvet Crowe could ever hope to be." she declared ominously. "For He is the one who commands the very fabric of this world."

As the malevolence engulfed her completely, she made a mocking bow to the Shepherd, her smile glinting through the darkness. "Slay the monster, Shepherd Sorey." she ordered mockingly. "For the good of the world…

"Kill Velvet Crowe."

Her voice faded alongside her body as the cloud of malevolence slowly faded, leaving behind only tendrils of miasma being swept away by the roaring wind. The group stood there in the wake of the advisor's disappearance, exchanging looks amongst themselves. At the head of them all, Sorey gritted his teeth and turned on his heel, walking past them all and towards the exit to the altar. The howling wind played with the embroidered cloak on his back as he walked off into the darkening abyss, the others following quietly in his steps.

---​

A symphony of melancholic chirps resounded out through the night, sung by the crickets dispersed amidst the vast sea of wheat stalks blanketing the rolling hills of the Pearloats Pasture. A chilly breeze blew through the silence, disturbing the decaying crops in waves and eliciting a soft murmur of rustling stalks that filled the silence of the dying farmland.

Dirt and dead crops crunched noisily under Sorey's boots as he stepped through the field; his expression hidden from the world amidst the dim light cast by the stars above. He came to a halt at the top of the rolling hill alone, staring out towards the distant lights of Pendrago in the cold of the moonless night. All around him, the waist-high sea of dead crop waved in the wake of another breeze as he stood motionlessly in the darkness.

He didn't have to wait long until he the sound of someone approaching from behind drew his attention.

He waited until the noises had stopped with his right hand resting gently upon the pommel of his sword before he turned around. She met his gaze from across the field with her right hand on her hip and an unreadable expression on her face. Her monstrous claw was fully extended, hanging lazily off her frame while pulsing ever so imperceptibly in the darkness.

There was no steel mask on her face, no disguising cloak on her shoulders. There was no point anymore.

Sorey set his jaw as he turned around to face her fully, his boots crunching noisily in the silence of the field as he did so. Another stray breeze blew through the darkness, tugging at the cloak resting upon his back as it disturbed the crops between them. The chirping of the crickets continued uninterrupted as it died down, filling the quiet of the night in its wake.

A moment of silence passed.

And then the two opposing entities sprang into motion like clockwork, charging at each other underneath the curtain of stars.

CLANG!

The first strike was always the most jarring for Sorey. He gritted his teeth and spun around, twisting his body to avoid his opponent's short stab and to retaliate with his own sweeping blade. He followed through with the missed swing as she herself ducked to the left, before she retaliated by wrenching her body around and lashing out with her foot.

Metal clashed off of metal as his quickly raised sword met the hidden blade shooting out of her steel boot, deflecting her leg and allowing him to retaliate with a swift flick of his wrist. Her gauntlet blade, however, shot out in the blink of an eye, slamming into his ceremonial sword at an awkward angle and sending it bouncing upward into the air.

He quickly lunged to the side instead of attempting to parry, rolling through the dead crops with a loud crackle of dried plants as her monstrous claw flashed violently through the air above with a trail of vile malevolence following in its wake. He recovered from his roll and brought his empty left hand back with a silent cry.

His opponent leapt inhumanly high into the air to avoid the explosion of mana that erupted from his palm, twisting her body as she fell through the darkness to wrench her claw around herself and down towards him. Sorey promptly brought up his sword and focused intensely, drawing mana through his veins to form a barely perceptible shield of mana not a moment before her hellish claw came crashing down to crush him.

BANG!

Both fighters were deflected backwards by the force of the impact, Sorey's boots digging a trench in the ground as he was flung back while his opponent was repelled backwards through the air. Both of them arrested their momentum at the same time, regaining their footing and meeting their opponent's gaze.

Underneath a blanket of darkness and amidst a sea of dead crops in a dying world, the Shepherd and the Lord of Calamity charged each other once more. They danced around each other in time to a violent, unpredictable rhythm, exchanging blows that resounded loudly into the surrounding fields.

The world lit up spontaneously when his opponent formed a ball of fire in the palm of her enormous, monstrous appendage, drawing it back behind her shoulder and inadvertently throwing her entire body in terrifying light. Her fierce, animalistic expression was briefly illuminated in the pulsating light of the flames before she thrust her arm forward, sending the arte hurtling towards him.

Sorey immediately flipped the pommel of his sword around in his hand before thrusting it deep into the dirt before him, gritting his teeth as he covered his entire body in a full shield arte. The fireball of the hellion crashed directly against the barrier and detonated with a violent bang, briefly washing his whole world in blinding light.

Right as the flames died down, he dispelled the shield arte and jerked back to his feet as quickly as he could while readjusting the grip on his sword back to normal. His eyes abruptly widened however, as he suddenly found the palm of a blood-red claw sweeping through the darkness towards him.

CRASH!

Sorey let out an involuntary grunt as he rolled to a stop, coughing blearily as his battered lungs struggled to refill in the wake of the bone-crushing blow. The world spinning around him, the Shepherd slammed his left fist onto the ground and pushed himself onto a knee, bringing his sword back up to bear.

He froze, however, as cold steel kissed the exposed skin of his collar bone.

He glanced up without moving his head and found Velvet standing there with her blade to his neck, her serrated claw hanging by her side as she looked down upon him with pulsing red eyes. Tendrils of malevolence seeped off her figure in waves, polluting the air around her and making his hairs stand on end. The world around them darkened even still, the stars up above being blotted out by the rapidly forming domain of the former Lord of Calamity.

He stayed there motionlessly, squarely holding her gaze as her blade continued to press up gently against the soft skin of his neck. She stared back at him; her expression entirely devoid of any perceptible emotion.

Click.

With a series of soft clicks, the mechanisms of her gauntlet blade activated, collapsing and retracting her blade harmlessly back into its housing atop her wrist. Her red-hued eyes glowed in the darkness as took a single step back, resting her hand back on her hip in the wake of battle.

Sorey slowly stood up before her, his dirty and soiled cloak resettling behind him with the movement.

"Velvet-" he began.

Without waiting to listen to what he had to say, she turned on her heel without a word and began to walk away, her dark cloak and long raven hair rippling in the wind as she did so. Her domain continued to whirl all around them, throwing the nearby wheat stalks into a whipped frenzy amidst the roaring gales. Behind her, Sorey's jaw set. He would not allow her to leave without answers.

"Teresa Linares."

His soft voice was barely audible over the chaos. "Oscar Dragonia."

He watched as the hellion came to a slow halt in response to his words without any other visible reaction to the names he'd uttered. He pressed on, the fury and frustration of the past few weeks building rapidly inside of himself. "The Elemental Empyreans showed us the truth, Velvet." he said lowly. "We saw what happened to them, long ago."

There was no visible reaction. Spurred onward, Sorey took a step forward in utter frustration.

"I want to know!" he yelled angrily. "Who in the world are you, Velvet?!"

His frustrated demand rang out through the night, fighting the roaring winds of the hellion's domain. "The things you've done in your past – the suffering you've caused!" He slashed a hand through the air. "You're a Lord of Calamity!One that brought about an entire age of chaos! You're the Shepherd's sworn enemy!"

He clenched his teeth angrily, looking away in emotion. "But at the same time…" he muttered lowly, "…you helped me."

The moaning of the surrounding winds filled the silence in the wake of his words, emphasizing the gulf between the two inhabitants of the domain. The hellion still did not move nor react to his words.

Sorey slowly stepped back amidst the stalks of crop; his shoulders hunching slightly. He took a deep breath, gathering himself. "…You can call me a tool all you'd like, Velvet." he muttered quietly. "But I can hardly buy the act after all we've been through. After all the time we've shared together."

He shook his head in dull resignation. "I just… don't know what to make of you." he admitted helplessly.

A silence fell in the wake of his words. He stood there, staring imploringly at the figure of the strange woman who had thrown his world and everything he had believed into disarray. Behind him, the cloak of the Shepherd flapped nosily in the winds, tearing from one side to the other amidst the hellion's chaotic domain.

"'A future where humans and seraphim might one day live in harmony together.'" Her voice, infinitely familiar yet at the same time utterly foreign, rang out above the noise of her domain.

She turned partially to the side; her red-hued eyes distant and unseeing. "That was your dream, wasn't it?" she asked quietly.

He blinked. Hesitantly, he nodded in response.

She turned away from him; her cloak flapping gently in the winds. "Don't overcomplicate things." she muttered lowly.

"I am a monster that cannot be purified. Nothing more." Sorey watched as the hellion slowly lifted her claw, staring quietly at the appendage without any discernable emotion.

"Your job is to kill me, Shepherd." she stated, slowly clenching the claw before her. "…Before I commit even more sins."

She gently flicked her arm to dispel her claw into an arm covered in bandages, her figure devoid of any emotion as she returned the arm to her side. "And if you fail, I'll devour you." she finished matter-of-factly.

With that, she stepped away, her steel boots crunching quietly underfoot. The remains of her domain slowly faded away in the wake of her departure, leaving Sorey standing there alone amidst the silence.

His fists curled.

All around him, the chirping of the crickets resumed as the world returned to normal, filling the empty air once more with senseless noise.

---​

Author's Note: Ah, finally. I'm back! Let's get through some more chapters, shall we?

- CloudFry, February 23nd, 2020

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 20 – Stormhowl.

"Such well-picked ingredients… you must be making miso stew tonight." A conspiratorial smile formed on the woman's face as she leaned forward, rubbing her fingertips together. "Well, I don't suppose you know what would go well with that stew tonight?" She paused for dramatic effect.

"…Some of the wonderful pre-made foodstuffs that we have for sale, of course!"

The saleswoman spun around in a circle on the spot, her apron flashing around her like a cape as she came to a halt with a finger pointing directly at her targeted audience with a fierce inhale. "That's right, great food at great prices without the hassle, ready to eat 24 hours, 7 days a week! Perfect for someone as shopper-savvy as you!" she crowed.

All around, the non-distinct chattering of the people visiting the Lastonbell marketplace continued uninterrupted. In the center of the plaza, a large fountain chuckled as it pumped water high into the air with a soft spray. A gaggle of children laughed raucously as they played tag, weaving in and out of the groups of shoppers visiting the various stalls. Somewhere in the distance, a lone bird chirped loudly above the clamor, announcing its presence to the world. The saleswoman stood there in a fixed pose, an expectant, breadwinning smile plastered on her enthusiastic face.

Velvet stared flatly back at her.

The chains on her outfit clinked as she turned to the side, returning her attention to the display of green onions arrayed in the stall before her. After a pause, she plucked a well-colored bundle of onions off the pile, depositing it into the full basket hanging off her right arm. That having been done, the therion calmly turned and walked away from the human without a word, her steel boots clanking quietly upon the stones underfoot.

Not deterred in the least, the merchant in the bright green hat quickly caught up with the harden woman's stride, crossing her arms and nodding with marked sympathy. "It can be weird just hearing me say that, I know." she reassured deeply. "Anybody can just fling those words about." She hopped to the side with catlike reflexes, dodging a shopping couple walking in the opposite direction. "But I'll tell you now," she continued as she hopped back, "we have food that you can find nowhere else in Lastonbell! The best of the best. The latest fads!"

Metal clinked as Velvet placed several coins of gald into the wrinkled hand of the old lady manning the booth. The elderly woman bobbed her head as she received the money, sliding the gold coins into a pouch for safekeeping before reaching for change.

"Why, we've even got the Mabo Curry Bun!" the saleswoman announced loudly from behind Velvet. "The famous specialty product of the Sparrowfeathers. So tasty, so good…!" she shook her head, her short red hair swishing from side to side with the movement. "And the prices we have them for… You'd be totally silly to not take an advantage of such a ridiculous offer!"

The therion received and carefully counted the change to her satisfaction before palming the coins, giving the elderly shopkeeper a nod of thanks. The trade having been made, she turned on her heel and headed off, groceries in hand.

Reaching her limit, the saleswoman's eye twitched.

"…Hey! At least say something!" she yelled reproachfully at the departing woman's back. She pouted as the lady walked away without showing any signs of having heard her, leaving her standing alone in front of the stand.

"Honestly. Some people…" she sighed, crossing her arms with a huff. Behind her, the elderly woman manning the grocery stand exhaled quietly, getting off from her stool and slowly walking over to tend the rest of her stall.

Velvet had long since discounted the saleswoman from her mind as she crossed the plaza, the spray from the fountain misting in the overcast day and wafting over her face. By her side, the basket of groceries she'd bought dangled from her right hand, perfectly ready for tonight's meal. All around her, the chattering of the shoppers and the laughter of the children continued amidst the bustle of the city of artisans.

Suddenly, she jerked her head to the side; her eyes narrowing in alarm.

CRASH!

Instantly releasing the groceries in her hand, the therion slammed her feet into the ground and leapt back, dodging a razor-sharp blade of ice as it embedded itself directly into the stones where she'd been standing. Without hesitation, Velvet brought her left arm up and whirled around while simultaneously extruding her monstrous claw into the open air.

The pulsating surface of her claw deflected the next blade of ice moments before it impaled her, redirecting its velocity to crash into the façade of a nearby building. The world spun around and around as she brought her legs up and over her head, launching her body into a series of backflips to avoid more charged blades of ice shooting overhead, all of which rippled with powerful electric mana.

Dull booms resounded through the stones below as the missed artes crashed violently into various parts of the plaza, sending shrapnel flying in all directions from the points of impact. Screams echoed throughout the marketplace as the humans were cast into abrupt chaos, stalls being abandoned in an instant as people fled the spontaneous explosions that had occurred out of nowhere.

The cries of the fleeing humans rang in Velvet's ears as she came to a halt in the center of the plaza, tensed in an athletic stance while holding her claw held readily in front of her.

"Velvet Crowe."

The therion scowled as she was addressed, flexing her right hand readily as she laid eyes upon the collection of seraphim walking through the debris towards her. "Who's asking?" she growled, flexing her claw readily. Behind her, the fountain puttered noisily, leaking water out into the stones of the plaza having been struck with a stray blade of ice.

A woman with short turquoise hair in an angelic white coat stepped forward; her deep green eyes hard with fury as she looked upon the intruder in her domain.

"Sindra. The Lord of the Land for the city of Lastonbell." She frowned, her clothing flowing with the rippling seraphic power swirling around her. "You were foolish to so boldly intrude upon my domain, hellion. Nevertheless, it was high time that your reign of terror was ended." She closed her eyes briefly. Her gathering of seraphic followers stepped forward as well, all of them wielding different elements in preparation for battle.

"Fitting that it should be by my hand." The Lord's eyes snapped open, glowing with power as she raised her arm. "Now face the wrath of one appointed by the Shepherd Himself!" she cried.

As one, the group of seraphim released their artes, unleashing a tsunami of multi-colored projectiles towards the raven-haired hellion on the other side of the plaza. Power roared deafeningly as the artes converged towards Velvet, who took a step back with a ferocious scowl.

BANG! BANG!

The shockwaves of explosions resounded across the city as the unleashed artes detonated, uprooting the stone bricks underfoot and sending debris flying in all directions. Flashes of lightning, missiles of flame, clumps of earth, and spikes of water crashed against the facades of the surrounding buildings amidst their barrage, sending brick and stone careening down upon the abandoned stalls underneath.

A black and red blur danced between it all, twisting and leaping with inhuman grace. Velvet's eyes burned red as she came to a halt as the initial barrage faded; her body untouched and her claw rippling with power.

Her ear twitched as, amidst the sound of crumbling rock and rumbling earth, the screaming of a woman drew her attention. The saleswoman from before twitched uncontrollably as she laid upon the ground, her eyes wide with agony as she was electrocuted by a charged blade of ice that had collided into the ground beside her.

Velvet turned back to glare at the Lord of the Land and her followers as the smoke faded, revealing the seraphim once more preparing to cast another barrage of artes. "The hell do you think you're doing?!" she snarled.

Blades of ice forming readily in the air behind her, Sindra grit her teeth in response to the hellion's demand. "…If I must sacrifice the lives of an unfortunate few to take down the Lord of Calamity at the opportune moment, then so be it." Steeling herself, the Lord of the Land defiantly met Velvet's eyes, her green eyes pulsing with power. "Anything to take down a being as repulsive as yourself!"

The therion grit her teeth in frustration as the rest of the seraphim once more raised their arms, preparing to unleash another volley of artes against her. She flashed a glance over her shoulder at the helpless human being electrocuted behind her, furling her fists.

"VELVET!"

She froze in shock.

A range of emotions flashed through her expression in an instant as she turned towards the source of the familiar voice.

The longsword sang as its wielder crashed down upon Sindra from out of nowhere, causing the Lord of the Land to dodge in a frantic backstep. Metal screeched against stone as the edge of the red-and-black demonic sword swept around, carving through the air and driving the surrounding seraphim away.

Sindra cursed as she found her footing, raising her arms in a fighting stance once more. "Another filthy hellion?!" she demanded.

The Yaksha's blood red eye glinted through his long black hair as he swept Kurogane back over his shoulder, resting it upon his neck with a fierce, indulgent grin. "Rokurou Rangetsu." he greeted, sweeping his sandals back on the ground into a fighting stance. "A pleasure."

With the graceful ease of an infinitely practiced swordsman, Rokurou pivoted on his feet and parried the sword of a nearby seraph, retaliating by slashing his blade at a different angle to send his opponent falling to the ground with a cry. He smoothly transitioned into a dodge as artes of fire exploded at his feet, leaping back and giving himself some room as the rest of the seraphim regrouped around their leader. His face was twisted into a brilliant grin as he slid to a stop, angling his body to the side towards his powerful opponents.

Without taking his eyes off his prey, Rokurou called out over his shoulder, "You handle the girl." His left arm easily pivoted over his right shoulder to grasp the handle of a second sword strapped to his back as he spoke. "I've got this covered." His demonic eye flashed as his grip tightened.

SHING!

Stormhowl sang a sympathetic song of screeching metal as Rokurou slid its edge along the length of Kurogane while drawing it, holding both longswords out on both sides.

Velvet watched as the hellion lunged forward once more without another word, charging headlong into the barrage of artes cast by the group of seraphim. Her lips thinned in amusement for a split second before she burst into action as well, kicking off the stones to run towards the electrocuted woman behind her.

Seraphim screamed in agony as the demon cut them down one-by-one, delivering disabling blows that caused them to crash down upon the ground whereupon they vanished in flashes of green back into their vessels to recover. Any established guards they attempted with their weapons were quickly subverted within seconds; any artes they sent his way missing wide with his impossibly acute dodges.

CLANG!

Sindra swore once more as her dagger met the blade of the red-eyed hellion, the force from the mere blow itself pushing her entire body back upon the stones. Her followers had all been disabled, leaving her to battle the monster alone. Undaunted however, the Lord of the Land jerked her free arm to the side, quickly conjuring a blade of ice to drive the monster back.

Rokurou stepped back and deflected the arte with the clean blade held in his left hand, sending it careening off into the sky. He tilted his head to the side, letting his opponent catch her breath as he angled the tip of Kurogane in her direction.

"'Sacrificing' the lives of your own charges to take down a monster, huh?'" he observed markedly, his voice ringing off the destroyed stones of the surrounding plaza. "Sounds to me like the only monster here is yourself."

The Lord of the Land gritted her teeth in pure frustration. "I won't… have a disgusting hellion lecture to me about what is right!" She let out a wild scream as she lunged forward, a dagger in hand.

"DEVOUR!"

Sindra barely managed to reverse her actions to avoid the sweep of a massive blood-red claw as the Lord of Calamity leapt towards her, her dark black jacket and her long raven hair sweeping ominously behind her movements. Her shoes slid noisily upon the stones as she came to a halt, her hair standing on end having come so close to the malevolence. "Damn!" she cursed, breathing heavily.

Velvet stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Rokurou against the lone Lord of the Land in the center of the deserted plaza; her eyes hard.

The world around them darkened alarmingly quickly, plunging into almost abject darkness. Spontaneous thunder thrummed through the air as flashes of unnatural lightning sparking through the overcast skies above, illuminating the destroyed plaza in sporadic, blinding flashes. Amidst the darkness and the rising unnatural winds, Velvet's brilliant red eyes flourished.

"Stand down." she growled lowly, her voice somehow sounding louder amidst her domain. "Or I'll turn you and every other seraph in town into a dragon."

Sindra's face paled as she felt just how truly powerful this dreadful being's domain was. Her domain didn't hold a candle to it; there was absolutely nothing she could do to try and maintain control. She glanced helplessly around herself, finding nobody else to support her but the empty desecrated plaza herself against the overwhelming evil that had invaded her world.

Accepting defeat, the dethroned Lord of the Land hung her head, fisting her hands. "You…" she seethed in a trembling voice. "You'll rue this day… monster."

Velvet looked on, unimpressed.

Gritting her teeth, Sindra took a shameful step back before vanishing into a flash of green, returning to her vessel established somewhere else in town and leaving the two powerful hellions to roam freely amidst her domain.

Silence fell upon the ruined plaza in the wake of her departure, the world slowly regaining its light as Velvet quietly resumed suppressing her domain within herself. Rays of sunshine once more began to peek through the holes in the overcast day, brightening up the world with patches of brightness that washed the various craters lining the surrounding stones. Somewhere, a bird began chirping its song once more, celebrating the return of normality to life itself.

"…Hahaha!"

Rokurou's thoroughly bemused laugh rang through the otherwise abandoned marketplace as he left his fighting stance, straightening his back and returning both his swords to their sheaths with natural ease. As Velvet turned to face him, the Yaksha casually rested both his free hands on his hips, grinning happily at her. "You sure don't mince words, do ya, Velvet?" he remarked lightly. "I can tell that hasn't changed."

She shrugged uncaringly, placing a hand on her hip as she dispelled her daemon claw. "Speak for yourself." she returned smoothly. "I see you're still out picking fights." She tilted her head towards the general chaos surrounding them.

Rokurou's grin was self-deprecating. "Did you expect anything more from a 'disgusting hellion' like me?"

The therion rolled her eyes as she turned away from him, instead directing her steps across the ruined plaza to the opposite side. Her steel boots clanked noisily in the calm after the storm as she knelt down before the injured girl lying in the shade of one of the unruined buildings, her eyes narrowing.

The red-haired saleswoman slowly opened her eyes with a wince, surprised beyond belief to find the hardened woman that she'd been pestering earlier quietly slathering gel upon her head injuries.

"A-ah-ow." she winced again, hissing in pain.

Velvet frowned. "Don't move." she muttered, focusing as she carefully rolled bandages around the girl's head.

"…This will only do temporarily." she stated as she let her arms fall from the girl's head. "You'll need a doctor to take a look at your injuries as soon as possible."

The saleswoman grinned weakly up at the kneeling traveler as she carefully looked over her handiworks "Does this…" She coughed, clearing her throat before beginning again. "Does this mean you won't be trying our… Mabo Curry Buns?" she croaked.

Velvet let out an exasperated breath.

---​

The wooden sign emblazoned with the symbol of medical aid squeaked as it pivoted on its mounting pole from the slight breeze, mixing with the overall chatter of the multitudes of men and women traversing the central avenue of Lastonbell. Velvet's cloak and hair softly followed the therion's movements as she turned around, facing Rokurou amidst the partially shadowed entrance to the doctor's office.

The hustle and bustle continued all around them as they began walking in any particular direction at an unspoken signal. Two evil beings intruding upon a holy land surrounded by clueless humans.

Rokurou crossed his arms with a thoughtful grin. "So hey," he began conversationally, "good to see you're alive and well."

"Same to you." Velvet replied, sidestepping a raucous group of children as they charged headlong past her amidst the busy foot traffic. "I would've thought you'd have died long ago."

He crossed his arms as he walked, sagely nodding his head in agreement. "You're not alone in that. Suppose it just goes to show how you can't ever predict these things." Vendors hawking their goods on both sides of the avenue filled their world with noise as they traversed a particularly busy section of town, navigating the crowds with deliberate movements.

Once they had passed the bulk of the crowd, Velvet waved an errant hand in the air in response. "I take it you've improved your sword skills since the last time I saw you?" she asked casually.

Rokurou gave her a like-minded grin. "Needed to blow off some steam?"

"A little." she allowed.

He grinned knowingly, slowing his steps for a moment to walk behind her in order to avoid a large horse-drawn carriage before returning to her side. "…Well," he supposed, "I'm always happy to spar for a bit. And afterwards, we can celebrate your return the proper way. 'Specially since you ought to be of age now, right? I know a real good place in town where they serve the smoothest of drinks…"

Velvet shook her head with her bandaged hand in the air. "No thanks."

Rokurou put a wry hand on his chin. "…Still not a purveyor of alcohol, I take it? Shame."

"It's not like I could taste it anyways." she replied easily.

Together, the two of them continued to follow the major thoroughfare of Lastonbell, both content to simply walk in silence amidst the cacophony of noises of the human city. In the distance, the towering belfry of the city stood high amidst the brilliant blue sky, watching over the city of artisans as life went on for its denizens.

CLANG!

The first exchange of their swords echoed loudly into the wilds of the Lastonbell outskirts as the two hellions began their duel, facing off each other amidst a well-lit clearing in the forest. More reports of steel meeting steel echoed out in rapid succession following the first as Velvet took to the offensive, opting for quick and light jabs that were met with smart parries by her opponent.

Rokurou's sandals crunched in the grass underfoot as the grinning daemon lithely slipped between the therion's last few stabs, using the resulting opening to bring Kurogane back for a curving wide slash.

Velvet smoothly pivoted her body to the side in response, sheathing her gauntlet blade while bringing her left boot up to bear to meet the incoming blade. Her hidden blade squealed loudly upon the blackened metal of his longsword as it collided upon it at an angle, deflecting it up into the sky. Capitalizing upon her opponent's weapon type, the therion followed through with her kick with a twist of her body, flinging her right arm around while extending her gauntlet blade.

Her blade met only air as he leapt back in a prompt backstep, twirling Kurogane in his grip in the process to arrest its momentum and bring the weapon back into control with both hands. The Yaksha then reared back, pushing forward both hands and thrusting the tip of the longsword towards the therion.

Metal screeched upon metal once more as his opponent's gauntlet blade shot out at the last moment, redirecting the tip of his blade up and over her shoulder and slicing a few strands of raven hair in the process. Her steel boots slammed upon the grass as she lunged forward in retaliation, still holding her bent arm at an angle to push Kurogane up and away from her as she quickly closed the gap between the two of them.

Velvet let out a wordless cry as she abruptly spun to the side, pushing her blade off his to slash at his open non-dominant side.

CLANG!

Sparks flew briefly as her blade collided upon the hallowed blade of Stormhowl, Rokurou having managed to unsheathe it and used it to block her blow within the blink of an eye. He gave her a grin as the two of them stood there for a brief moment with locked swords, their hearts racing in their chests.

"That's it?" he asked lightly, a friendly grin on his face.

Velvet answered his grin with a fierce smile. "Please." she replied, tensing her body once more. By her side, her bandaged hand flexed violently.

"I'm just getting started!"

Her monstrous arm exploded out into the open air with an ever-familiar squelch, tearing out through the bandages to grasp at her opponent with razor-sharp serrations. Rokurou's grin widened as he leapt acrobatically to the side, avoiding her vicious grasp while readjusting both blades in his hands.

Her eyes were narrowed in acute ferocity as she brought her claw back to bear in the wake of her missed swing, angling her body towards him. Rokurou met her furious charge with both blades crossed before himself, his sandals dug deep trenches in the ground from the sheer force of the blow. He gritted his teeth as his blades were pressed backwards, by her enormous claw, threatening to push him off balance.

His demonic eye pulsed brilliantly underneath his sweat-matted hair, giving her a split-second notice before he unleashed a column of fire directly in front of her.

The smell of charred grass filled the air as Velvet recovered from her backflip having dodged the Yaksha's arte. She wasted no time in retaliating with her own arte, slamming her boots firmly on the ground and bringing her claw back with a cry.

Rokurou let out a grunt of surprise as he was forced to kick off the ground with great force, flying inhumanly high into the sky above as the therion's fireball detonated with a resounding boom underneath him, throwing waves of heat washing over him in the process. He twisted around in the air, bringing both blades slicing down into the air as he crashed back to earth.

CLANG! CLANG!

The momentum of Kurogane was arrested as it crashed against the palm of her enormous claw while on the other side, Stormhowl was deflected clean off her gauntlet blade. Velvet's eyes bulged as she violently clamped down upon Kurogane in her grasp, twisting her body and wrenching the blade around in a violent arc in an attempt to slam her opponent directly into the ground.

Before should could however, she was forced to let go of the blade moments it abruptly exploded in flames. She leapt back a few paces to dodge Stormhowl's swing as it preceded Rokurou's descent, the Yaksha landing heavily where she had been standing moments ago while sharply flicking Kurogane in the air to put out the residual flames.

Velvet stood back up in a ready stance, her jacket and hair settling behind her as she met Rokurou's eyes with an impressed eyebrow.

"You've improved a great deal." she remarked, flexing her demonic claw by her side. "Think you've surpassed your brother yet?"

He shook his head, casually hefting Kurogane over his shoulders to rest upon his neck. "I've still got quite a ways to go. Who knows if I'll ever get to that point?" He shrugged; a wry grin on his face. "Suppose there's only one way to find out."

She let out an amused breath, tilting her head to the side. "That's just the who you are, huh?"

Metal squealed on metal as Rokurou returned Stormhowl back to its sheath behind his back, instead choosing to wield Kurogane with both hands. "Naturally!" he agreed brightly, kicking off with his feet into a lunge.

With that, the two of them resumed the pace of battle, charging at each other amidst the brightly lit day. The squealing of opposing steel blades filled the clearing as they fought, Velvet's hair sweeping through the air as it trailed her graceful acrobatics in contrast to the rippling of Rokurou's kimono with each powerful swing.

High up above, the sun slid amidst the various clumps of clouds occupying the wide blue sky, slowly falling from its peak with the gentle coaxing of time.

Velvet's steel boots dug deeply into the grass and dirt as she arrested her backward momentum, narrowing her eyes as she met Rokurou's gaze cross the clearing from her. Sweat matted her brow and ran down her chin as she breathed steadily in exertion, a fierce smirk on her face. The war daemon returned her look, blinking briefly with surprise before falling into a similarly anticipatory stance.

A foreboding silence fell in the lull of battle, blanketing the surrounding forest in an ominous absence of activity.

At an unspoken signal, both fighters abruptly broke into an all-out sprint towards one another, Rokurou wielding both longswords in his hands behind himself and Velvet bringing her massive claw around to bear. Together, they brought their weapons together, letting out joint yells of battle.

"KILLING BLAST!"

Rokurou's red eye pulsed madly as he charged forward, drawing the hilt of Kurogane powerfully back behind himself while holding Stormhowl out before him. A fierce, indulgent smile was carved into expression as he let out the fierce roar of a warrior unbounded and unrestrained.

"NO MERCY!"

Velvet's expression was one pure wrath as she kicked off the ground, bringing her claw up and over her shoulder as she glided through the air. Her blood-red eyes bulged with acute fury as she wrenched her claw down upon those beneath her – a vengeful wraith wreathed in malevolence.

"FORM 0: SUNDER!" "LETHAL PAIN!"

His blade and her claw crashed together in a violent eruption of malevolence.

A resounding boom exploded out from the point of impact, rattling trees with a shockwave that thrummed for miles around, shaking the paved stones the nearby city.

---​

Rokurou let out a low whistle. "Something's really bothering you today, huh?"

Small, multicolored schools of fish darted here and there amidst the clear waters of the mountain spring, causing persistent ripples that disrupted the vibrant, indistinct shades of green and blue reflected by the crystal-clear surface above. A small creek fed into the spring, weaving through the large boulders that bordered the body of water atop one of the many forested mountains overlooking the entire region.

In the distance, the Belfry of Lastonbell stood tall and proud above the rolling expanse of clustered buildings, the various golden bells of the mechanism glinting brightly in the sunlight. Velvet's coat and hair waved softly in the gentle breeze as she stood at the other edge of the spring, staring out through the gap in the trees towards the vast expanse of civilization below.

The therion twisted her wrist, closing her gauntlet blade with a loud series of metallic clicks that disrupted the sounds of nature pervading the tranquility of the spring.

"It's about Phi." she replied softly.

Rokurou's expression grew serious as he sat up, his legs crossed and his back straight. "I'd figured as much." he remarked. "You've heard about what's happened to him, then."

She nodded wordlessly, habitually reaching behind her back to slide her hand into the pocket of her jacket. In her grasp, the broken shards of the amber comb glinted tenderly in the shadowed sunlight of the spring.

The swordsman crossed his arms while closing his eyes. "When I first heard myself, I wanted to do something for the kid, too." he admitted. "But purifying an empyrean…?" He shook his head, his single visible eye opening soberly. "Well, I'm just a simple hellion. I wouldn't even know where to start, or what could save him at all for that matter."

The chains dangling off her belt chimed in the wind. "The silver flame might." Velvet said quietly. "The power that Phi passed to the Shepherd."

Rokurou blinked.

"…His 'gift to the world,' huh?" he leaned forward carefully, eyeing her with a thoughtful expression as he did so. "Now that you mention it, I have been hearing something strange here and there. Something about some sort of 'Shepherd's Advisor…'" he trailed off expectantly.

Velvet shook her head, staring off into the distance. "Not anymore."

Rokurou quickly connected the dots. "Ah. Got it." He crossed his arms and nodded comprehendingly. "Things make a bit more sense now."

She turned around and raised an eyebrow at the hellion across the spring to her. "That so?"

He got to his feet with an idle grunt, rolling his shoulders once more while raising his hands in a shrug. "You not mincing words isn't the only thing that hasn't changed, Velvet." he pointed out, casually reaching over his shoulder and pulling Kurogane out with a resounding squeal of metal on metal.

He ran his eyes up and down the length of the demonic blade, carefully examining its flawless edge as he explained, "I've kept myself away from all the Shepherd stuff these past 1,000 years. While I do love a good fight, those in particular tend to get a bit too messy." He shouldered the blade smartly across the back of his neck, holding Velvet's gaze. "So," he summarized, "I can't say I know much about this new Shepherd, other than what I've heard here and there.

"…But I do know that he's a rare sort of person." An easy smile rested on his face. "One that could get through to even you."

Velvet looked away, focusing her attention on the brightened city past the darkened canopy surrounding the spring.

Unsurprised by the woman's reaction, Rokurou lifted the sword from his back and returned it to its sheath in a smooth arc. His sandals scratched upon the surface of the smooth rocks underneath as he passed alongside the length of the spring, ending up standing alongside the therion overlooking the town in the distance.

"…You need to stop putting it off." The breeze disturbed his hair and briefly uncovered the blackened side of his face as he crossed his arms.

Velvet turned to face the war daemon in surprise. "…What?"

Rokurou returned her gaze with a surprisingly gentle expression. "Look Velvet, it's pretty obvious this is eating you up inside right now." He uncrossed and gestured with his left hand. "If this thing with the Shepherd is bothering you so much," he reasoned, "then you're better off facing it head on rather than taking half measures. Once you let yourself get caught up on the details, you'll never let yourself get out of that rut."

He turned back to the side, meeting her eyes once more with a pragmatic expression. "You have to trust that things will just work themselves out." he shrugged easily. "That's all."

Velvet's hair rippled in the wind behind her as she digested the man's words. "…That's so you." she muttered quietly; a soft incline to her lips.

Stray pebbles and dirt scratched noisily underneath Rokurou's sandals as he abruptly turned on the spot. "Yup. Just my simple thoughts." He raised his right arm over his shoulder in farewell as he set off, headed off into the wilderness. "We can catch up later," he called out into the air, "once you've sorted all of this out."

Velvet blinked in surprise as the hellion walked off, caught off-guard for a moment. She then shifted on her feet, placing her right hand on her hip as he walked off into the wilderness. "…More debts to pay?" she asked aloud.

He grinned at her over his shoulder without breaking stride. "Not to you." he replied, holding her gaze easily. "I'll see you around, Velvet."

With that, the hellion turned and continued his stride, heading off into the foothills with nothing but two swords on his back.

Velvet's smirk stayed on her face as she watched her old acquaintance saunter off into the wilderness, soon vanishing within the trees and shrubbery on the other side of the spring. The gentle breeze brushed alongside her into the clearing of the spring, sending soft ripples along the surface of the calm waters and warping the muted reflection sitting upon it.

A soft whisper of wind and mana lingered in the air in the wake of the seraph's appearance amidst the mountain spring, meshing seamlessly in with the harmonic sounds of nature.

The therion stood still as the Lord of the Land quietly approached her, her expression having instantly transformed in the wake of Rokurou's departure. The expanse of Lastonbell framed Velvet from behind as she crossed her arms, raising a single expectant eyebrow as the green-haired seraph stopped before her.

"…Trying your luck again?" she asked, her voice hard and unimpressed.

Lastonbell's Lord of the Land seemed to hesitate for a moment, carefully studying Velvet with a strange look on her face before opening her mouth in response. "You…" Sindra shook her head, finding her voice once more. "You're not… quite what I expected." she admitted softy. She shifted on her feet, self-consciously raising her arms to interlace her fingers in front of her.

"The girl that we hurt…" she asked in a quiet voice, "…is she going to be alright?"

Velvet tilted her head slightly to the side.

"…The doctor said she'll be fine." she answered neutrally. "Superficial head injuries, mostly. She should be back on her feet in a week or so."

Sindra bobbed her head, absently running her right thumb up and down the length of her left index finger as she stared at her reflection in the spring.

"That's good to hear." she mumbled.

Velvet watched the other woman for a moment, noting her hunched shoulders and her diminutive stance. After a pause, her steel boots clanked quietly on the stones as she navigated the smooth rocks bordering the spring towards the seraph.

Sindra tensed as the hellion approached, her fists curling and her teeth gritting as the monster's footfalls neared. The seraph blinked however, as the footsteps receded past her without pausing.

"I don't care if you follow me." Velvet's words rang out into the clearing.

The therion glanced briefly over her shoulder at Sindra. "You've been dogging our steps ever since our battle." she waved an uncaring hand. "Why stop now?"

Sindra's face reddened slightly in response to the Lord of Calamity's acute observation. Wordlessly, she followed in the other woman's footsteps, gathering her thoughts as she followed her sworn enemy through the wilderness bordering her domain. Patches of scattered and diffused light littered the forest floor underfoot as they traversed the mildly dense forest, the seraph following the hellion's lead through the wilderness overlooking the wide expanse of Lastonbell.

The laughter of distant children reached their ears as they broke out through the forest to be greeted with a sea of gold.

Healthy wheat stalks flourished amidst the rapidly clearing sunny day, waving gently in the winds within their orderly sectioned farm plots. The town in the distance amidst the crops was a hub of activity as farmers turned in for lunch during the hottest time of the day, settling down for food and interacting with their families amidst the shade. Somewhere, two dogs began barking in the civil tones of two roughhousing animals as children egged them on.

Velvet took it all in from their spot on the plateau overlooking the valley below, her shredded black coat waving quietly behind her alongside the chiming of the chains on her outfit. "I take it the crop blight hasn't reached Lastonbell?" she asked aloud, her acute vision picking out the figures of the villagers below.

Sindra came to a halt some ways behind her, too surveying the land with a measure of contentment on her face. "No, it hasn't." she confirmed. "These fields are some of the last few bastions of healthy crop for the humans. When harvested, the food that grows here makes up the essential distribution of food to both human nations, even in wartime."

The fickle breeze played at Velvet's hair as she nodded, her eyes serious. "For now." she added pointedly. "When the corruption arrives here, these fields will shut down just like the ones by the capital. Making prices go up, and the famine worsen."

Sindra studied the back of the hardened woman's figure, pursing her lips. "…Exactly." the seraph sighed, returning her gaze outwards towards the distant village among the crops, the laughter of the children and the barking of the dogs ringing in her ears.

"I…"

She shook her head, visibly steeling herself before starting over. "I wanted to apologize. I overreacted earlier."

She once more interlaced her fingers before herself, absently swiping her thumb on her opposing index finger. "Because of my blind rage in an attempt to stop what you describe from happening, I endangered one of the very people I intended to protect…"

"You accepted her as a necessary sacrifice."

Velvet turned around fully to face the Lord of the Land, putting her back to the brightened landscape beyond. "You did what was necessary to bring down someone that you thought wanted to destroy your world." she observed, resting a hand on her hip.

"Is it safe to say that you don't want that?" Sindra's voice was soft and hesitant. "You and that other hellion… didn't harm anyone today." she mumbled.

"I don't care either way." Velvet's eyes were cold.

Sindra shuffled on her feet as she visibly absorbed her words, confusion flickering through her expression. "Then… what will you do about the Shepherd?" she asked quietly, watching the hellion's eyes narrow imperceptibly in response. "I heard you mention him…" she mumbled, "…while you were speaking to the other hellion."

Velvet's eyes were hard.

Yet before she could respond, the calm breeze sweeping the land suddenly picked up with spontaneous ferocity and lashed erratically in the air in a whipped frenzy.

Sindra herself took an alarmed step back, holding her arm out in front of her to protect her face as she squinted through the increasingly darkening skies. "A domain?!" she gasped, lowering her arm slightly and watching as the world plunged once more into chaos and darkness. "What…?!"

Velvet reacted quietly to the sudden influx of malevolence and darkness, turning her body towards the lone figure walking along the cliffside towards the two of them. She rested a hand on her hip, strands of raven hair obscuring her expression from view as she faced the man with the head of a lion.

A content expression etched Heldalf's features as he strolled towards the two women; a putrid carpet of malevolence oozing out from beneath his dark and heavy coat and trailing behind him. He heaved a relaxed sigh as he came to a halt across the plateau, closing his eyes and inhaling with obvious relish as he tasted the corrupted air of the countryside.

"A breeze to fan the embers of memory." the Lord of Calamity purred softly, his voice clearly resounding above the panicked winds of his domain. "It has been a long time since last I set foot in this place."

Slowly, his eyes slid open, his lumbering body turning to face the two women watching him guardedly.

Sindra took an enraged step forward, her bared teeth locked in fury. "And how dare you stain the land of my domain with your filthy presence once more!" she snarled, fiercely holding the monster's golden eyes in open defiance of his power. "I know who you are. Heldalf." she spat into the dirt.

An idle rumble resounded in Heldalf's chest as he looked over the seraph in response. "…The Shepherd's appointed protector seraph." he observed deliberately. "One who left her domain at the mercy of hellions."

Sindra's fists curled tightly in response to the Lord of Calamity's words. Before she could find her voice, she was stopped by a raised bandaged arm that drew Heldalf's attention away from her and towards its owner.

Velvet lowered her arm, holding Heldalf's gaze with burning amber eyes. "What are you doing here?" she asked lowly. "Come to kill me?"

The man with the lion's head studied her for a long while, his sharp gaze digging into her own dark yet reserved expression. The winds of his domain continued to swirl around amidst the empty space around them amidst the tense silence. In the distance, the village in the valley had gone eerily silent amidst a darkened world plagued with miasma.

Heldalf abruptly shook his head, splaying one of his massive clawed palms in the air in a dismissive gesture. "No." he replied evenly, holding her intense gaze with a calm expression. "I merely wished to show you…"

Velvet watched intently as the towering man reached into a pocket of his flowing coat, retrieving a small item that was dwarfed inside the palm of his massive paw. Her jaw set as she registered the telltale glow of a shimmering iris gem, sitting innocuously upon the rough skin of the monster's hand.

"…A memory from the world's history." she muttered, turning her gaze up to glare the man holding the object with untold yet reserved fury. "Retrieved using the stolen power of Maotelus."

Heldalf nodded calmly in the face of the therion's visible anger. He abruptly flicked his paw, sending the orb arcing through the darkened air towards her. Holding the gaze of the despicable hellion, the therion lifted her right hand without looking and caught the orb in her grasp.

A flash of white overtook the world.

---​

"…General! General! General!"

The brightly lit courtyard was inundated with a ferocious chorus of roars and war-cries as the amassed Platinum Knights of Rolance raised their gleaming arms into the sky in support of their beloved leader. Startled by the tsunami of noise, a flock of panicked doves erupted from their perch on one of the few trees lining the courtyard, taking off into the cloudless day amidst the continued cheers of the armored men.

High up above amidst the towering, gleaming walls of the Castle of the Royal Family, General Georg Heldalf straightened his back, letting his hands fall from the stone railing bordering the semi-circle balcony overlooking the filled courtyard.

His perfectly groomed golden hair swayed with the movement, curtaining his sculptured features as he slowly swept his gaze across the vast expanse of the battalion of knights below. His lips were drawn into a solid line, his jaw relaxed yet still as he stood there before them all, wreathed in a royal dark coat accented with hints of luxurious gold the same hue as his hair.

The cries of his soldiers continued as he turned on the spot, putting his back to the brightened scene of the city of Pendrago amidst the blinding sunlight before striding headlong into the comparatively dim hallways of the castle. Metal slid quietly upon metal as the well-oiled, gold-framed doors to the balcony were closed by servants in the wake of his departure, cutting off the noise of the cheering knights and returning his world to a deafening silence punctuated only by his boots sinking into carpet.

His assistant was waiting for him as he descended down the stairs into a large wooden hallway lined with stained glass windows.

The man bobbed his head in perfunctory greeting as he promptly matched his charge's sweeping stride, briefly consulting the itinerary held in his hands before clearing his throat. "General." he began without prelude as the two continued walking through the more crowded main hallway of the castle.

"By all accounts, the offensive scheduled for tomorrow is well underway. Reports from the units stationed by Lastonbell have all confirmed to be combat ready and knowledgeable about your plan of attack. The detachment of troops you just addressed are set to depart within the hour as well for support."

The General didn't visibly react to his assistant's words, sharply turning the corner to exit the hallway and into a separate wing of the building.

His assistant followed suit, smoothly continuing his report to the stoic commander. "The contacts of the crown have all been informed as well and have all responded positively to the proposed deal. Caravans of the merchants should arrive within hours of the projected victory, ready to immediately begin construction on new mines in the region." He straightened his back, lowering the itinerary in his hands while looking forward. "And finally, if I might speak my mind, General."

He straightened as the two of them came to a halt in a deserted part of the wing, holding his head at a slight incline in respect as the man turned his gaze towards him. "This entire endeavor is an impressive display of logistical efficiency. A guaranteed victory with all aspects considered – one that promises to vastly boost morale alongside the addition of vital resources for the empire."

He shook his head in amazement. "…My point is, I must reiterate that I am honored to serve the most intelligent man to take the mantle of the head of the Platinum Knights in recent history." he professed, bowing deeply. "Thank you, General."

Silence followed his comment.

Without responding, Georg Heldalf turned away from the bowing assistant, stepping forward and grasping the golden handle of the luxuriously carved door in front of him. The hallowed doors groaned ponderously as they were pushed open, revealing the Hall of the Platinum Knights – a massive room with a vast, vaulted ceiling interrupted at the end by a splendid stained-glass window.

The General stepped through the threshold and into the storied hall, leaving his assistant to promptly close the door behind him with another echoing groan, sealing him inside the vast space of the castle reserved only for the head of the Knights. Silence pervaded the room as the lone man stepped forward, his boots sinking deeply into the lush carpet underfoot.

The wide, almost endless expanse of the massive city of Pendrago greeted him as he came to a stop before the towering stained-glass window. Quietly, amidst the silence of the hallowed hall, his dangling hand lifted up until it seated firmly atop the pommel of his decorated, golden sword hanging off his left hip.

His jaw set firm as he looked over the bustling metropolis of the people extending out into the horizon. His people.

His grip tightened.

Abruptly, the groaning of heavy wooden hinges filled the room, the sound echoing off the vaulted ceiling above and resounding in his ears. After a pause, the door groaned for a final time as it was pushed shut, returning the room to silence.

"Do you ever wonder, perhaps, if the coat isn't just a bit too much?"

The General let out a breath of annoyance in response to the voice from behind, still gazing out at the vast city below from beyond the stained glass.

"It is a symbol of power. Of the all-encompassing nature of the Royal Family's orders." he rejected shortly, unmoving in his stance. "As a figurehead of the strongest army of the world, appearances matter. This mere coat is one of the many articles that maintain the balance of power in such a dynamic environment."

The lone man walking in from behind let in a human as he stepped forward, coming to a halt amidst the center of the hall facing the General's turned back. "But there's nobody else here." the stranger reasoned, waving his hand in an amicable gesture in the air. "Go on. Drop the oversized carpet off your shoulders and let go of the act for a second."

Heldalf heaved a long sigh of aggravation. After a pause, the man abruptly turned around, shrugging the regal coat off his shoulders and tossing it into his chair without a second thought as he strolled straight up to the intruder in his hall.

The two fell into a rough hug in the middle of the empty hall with sympathetic grunts, holding each other tightly in their embrace.

"…It's good to see you again, brother." Heldalf said, a smile forming on his face as they separated. "How long has it been?"

"Two years, give or take." his brother grinned back, easily grasping his wrist behind himself and straightening his back as he held Heldalf's gaze. "Clearly more than enough time for you to bury yourself into the thick of it." He tilted his head in a meaningful gesture.

Waving for his sibling to follow, Heldalf walked on over to a different side of his hall, where a vast multitude of glass bottles filled with various shades of liquid were arrayed. "The wheels of war turn faster by the day." he grunted, reaching up without hesitation to take a fancy bottle of premium whisky off the shelf, pulling stopper with a loud pop. "With the Royal Family hawking on my side and tensions with Hyland rising by the hour, it's almost a constant whirlwind of madness in this place." he explained, pouring the luxurious alcohol into two glasses without preamble. The two clinked their glass together as they both took a sample of the amber liquid, exhaling in mutual appreciation in the wake of the taste.

After a pause, Heldalf raised an eyebrow at his brother. "I trust you've been having better luck in your pursuits?" he asked, his voice echoing throughout the cavernous chamber.

His brother let out a sigh as he leaned against the bar, swirling the liquid around in his cup with a distant look. "Perhaps, perhaps not." he muttered. "Depends on what you would consider as 'luck.'"

"Tell me." Heldalf replied readily, stepping around and leaning backwards on the table across from his brother. "What troubles do the world of traders bring you now?"

His brother gave him a look. "So you can be distracted from your own mountain of troubles in trying to help me? No way. I didn't come here for that."

In response to the man's flippancy, Heldalf lowered his head like a threatening bull. "…I could force you." the General warned darkly. "There are plenty of interrogation rooms beneath this castle."

His brother waved his free hand openly dismissively, a sly grin in the face of his brother's frustration. "Please." he drawled. "You haven't managed to bully me into anything ever since that day I kept that stray puppy of yours a secret from mom and dad. And I don't think you ever will." his smile was light.

Heldalf growled lowly before shaking his head, silently admitting defeat. Instead, he waved a hand in the air. "…Then out with it." he sighed. "You know you're welcome here at any time regardless of the circumstances. But I know there was something else that brought you all the way here."

"Yes." His brother's expression sobered. "…It's about Hyland."

Heldalf's expression had gone stiff. "Of course." he muttered quietly.

The ice in his glass clinked as he brought it to his chin, inhaling the aroma of the intoxicant before he took a deep sip. Once he had finished, he opened his eyes to find his brother there, expectantly waiting for him to finish. "…Go on, then." Heldalf growled, gesturing with his glass.

Abruptly all businesslike, his brother nodded, reaching behind his back into the messenger bag hanging from his shoulder. "The valley that you're about to invade. The one in the Hyland outskirts."

"The one with valuable resources for the crown, you mean." Heldalf added ponderously.

The brother nodded absently. "You know of the farming village that's in that valley, Heldalf. We've been making trading excursions with them." he met his brother's eyes, his finger on point in the valley where the word Salient was written in obscure, insignificant letters. "One night, on such a journey, the caravan was attacked by a pack of inexplicably rabid wolves. We were quickly overwhelmed." His finger drew to a point by the river bordering the village. "It was here that two of my friends died. Here was where a bright young apprentice of ours died."

His finger moved without him looking; his eyes fixed on his brother's with intent emotion. "And here was where I would have died, if it hadn't been for them."

Heldalf pursed his lips. "…They saved your life." he finished quietly, staring down at the point on the map.

"Not just my own. The rest of my caravan as well." his brother intoned. "Heldalf-" he began.

"The attack will be postponed due to inclement weather." the General abruptly stated, standing up on his feet and walking back towards the stained-glass window, absently leaving his glass of whisky on the table in the process. "Scouts have discovered a large cloud front bearing down upon the point of attack from the northern side. It would be best for the detachment of forces to hold until it clears, which is expected to be within 3 days from now."

His boots creaked quietly in the silence that followed as he looked out the expanse of his city once more, his hands cordially placed behind his back. "…This will unfortunately allow more of Hyland's forces to reinforce the area, causing the point to no longer be a viable point of attack. I, as commanding officer, will be forced to order a withdrawal from the area." He finished soberly, running his thumbs over each other behind his back. "A shameful and counterproductive retreat, yet one better than an assured defeat."

His brother had stood up as well, placing his glass beside Heldalf's on the table, forgotten as he walked up to the commander. "…Thank you, brother." he said quietly.

Heldalf's eyes stared out into the distance, his brows furrowing as he watched a lone bird soar past the window and up through the skies.

A flash of white once more enveloped everything, rending all into nothingness.

---​

"My brother was the one person that stood beside me in the darkest of times."

Heldalf's words were surprisingly soft in the memory's wake. "He never strayed from who I was nor what I did. He was… the one and only one who could remind me of who I used to be." The Lord of Calamity held his massive malevolence-infested paw before him, curling the disfigured appendage into a fist.

"And when he was taken from me as well…" he muttered.

Velvet's jacket flapped softly in the malevolent winds behind her. "That part of you was lost." she finished.

"A dying spark snuffed out by a blizzard." Heldalf agreed lowly, meeting the other hellion's eyes. "Buried and forgotten amidst an endless storm of torment and hatred." His eyes stared out into the vast expanse of the valley below. His flowing coat rippled powerfully behind him as the raging gales of his domain swirled through the tortured air.

Standing between the two of them, Sindra quietly sent Velvet a confused glance amidst the silence that followed. Yet the therion's eyes were fixed on the unmoving form of the current Lord of Calamity.

Velvet drew her lips in a thin line. "…You miss your brother." she concluded simply.

Heldalf seemed have been anticipating her words. "Just as how you miss your own." he replied.

He turned to face her fully; his inhuman amber eyes burning with strange emotion. "…It is a matter of Light and Darkness." he declared. "When either one blots out the other, the canvas becomes a sore sight to behold." Slowly, deliberately, the Lord of Calamity splayed his left paw in the air, towards the isolated village in the distance.

Sindra visibly recoiled away as a putrid plume of purple miasma exploded out from Heldalf's palm, shooting through the air towards the settlement in the distance. Heldalf's expression was carved with self-satisfaction as he lowered his paw in the aftermath of his arte.

"Yet, when mixed together," he purred, "the two hues create the most… vivid of images."

Panicked screams of humans began to resound through air as the overwhelming amount of malevolence drove resident hellions of the distant settlement into a frenzy. What had once been a peaceful farming village amidst a secluded valley became the scene of a bloodbath as monsters tore it all apart.

"Y-you… bastard." Sindra seethed, her eyes bulging with fury at the blatant atrocity committed before her very eyes.

Heldalf paid the Lord of the Land no mind, holding Velvet's gaze. "…I will not interfere with your conflict with the Shepherd." he growled lowly. "Challenge him. Embolden him." By his side, his fist curled. "So that he can come to see the true senselessness of this world. So that he might join me by my side."

Velvet's eyes narrowed.

"…So that's your game." she muttered.

"My task as always has been to conquer." Heldalf stated gravely; his paws furling and unfurling by his sides. "To extend my reach beyond lines on a map; beyond nations and… more. The Shepherd is merely another piece to conquer amidst the grand coming spectacle."

"The world… is not your plaything!"

Having evidently reached her limit, Sindra took a furious step forward; an utterly violated expression on her face. "I don't give a damn about your past life, and I don't give a damn about whatever pathetic excuses you want to give about threating the stability of our entire world!" She slashed a hand through the air, snarling.

"If it meant stopping you and your twisted ideals, I'd kill you and your precious brother a hundred times over!" she yelled mockingly.

Heldalf frowned deeply in the wake of her words.

CRASH!

A noisy squelch followed by the sudden appearance of a massive red claw in front of her was Sindra's only warning before a violent blast of malevolence exploded right in front of her, having been promptly intercepted by Velvet's claw. She reeled away in a momentary panic, her limbs shaking with sudden adrenaline as she realized just how close she had come to being forcefully converted into a hellion.

"Wh… why…?" she mumbled helplessly, watching in disbelief as the malevolence was instead easily devoured by the raven-haired woman's claw.

The screams of the distant humans continued in the distance as Velvet hardened her stance, openly defying the Lord of Calamity by protecting the seraph, her claw hanging readily by her side.

"Go. They need your help." the therion addressed Sindra, gesturing with her claw towards the man with the Lion's head towering before them. "Leave this one to the Shepherd."

Forcing herself to reign herself in, Sindra fisted her hands and nodded quietly in response to the therion's words. She took a step to the side before hesitating. "…I take it you've decided what you're going to do." she breathed.

Velvet turned her head to the side, briefly meeting her eyes. She nodded quietly.

Sindra hesitated for a moment longer before visibly steeling herself, nodding back. "…I'll place my trust in who I hope you are, Velvet Crowe." she whispered. "Please… Do not let me down."

Without another word, the seraph shut her eyes and vanished within a simmering plume of green mana, leaving the two hellions along amidst the malevolence.

Heldalf quietly lowered his splayed paw, shaking his head in amusement in the wake of the seraph's departure. "When one has suffered for as long as I, the world holds little to relish." he rumbled lowly.

His eyes were dark. "…The time for ancient justice draws near." he declared coldly.

With that, Heldalf turned his back to the therion and raised his arms, drawing copious amounts of malevolence and mana towards himself. The world seemed to warp and morph for a split second before the hellion vanished in a flurry of darkness, leaving behind an empty world reeling from its release from the Lord of Calamity's overpowering and uncontrolled domain.

The sun began shining once more through the dissipating tendrils of malevolence. The whirling winds slowly began to normalize amidst the returning warmth, easing the seas of golden crop below to stillness once more. The screams of the distant villagers had subsided, leaving her standing alone amidst abject silence upon the deserted plateau.

Without a backward glance, Velvet set off away and back into the wilderness; a grim expression on her face. An uneven disquiet lingered in the air of the valley in her wake.

---​

Even in the nighttime, the main streets of Lastonbell bustled with activity. Taverns, bars, and restaurants welcomed the masses of strolling customers with open arms, hawking out deals to attract the stray passerby to dine at their establishment. Chattering locals walked side-by-side in groups through the well-lit streets, their voices meshing together into a dim mumble of lively civilization coming from far down below.

High above it all, the darkness of the belfry was disturbed only by the soft glow of the sprawling city below alongside the light of the glimmering moon in the clouds above. The stillborn night was without a gust of wind as Felice padded quietly along the shingled roof of one of the two interlinked towers, climbing towards the lone figure standing at the top.

Moving her gaze away from the humans below, Velvet slowly turned around, facing the assassin fully amidst the moonlit night. Felice came to a stop before her and met her gaze; a serious, expectant expression on her face.

Both knew what she was going to ask next.

The brick and mortar of the massive building shook underfoot as the thrumming toll of the activated Lastonbell Belfry pierced through the air, its chime reaching every corner the vast human city amidst the night.

Marking the coming dawn of a new day.

---​

Author's Note: It's probably redundant to say this at this point, but I hope each and every one of you reading this right now stays as safe and as afloat as possible. See you all soon.

- CloudFry, March 24nd, 2020

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 21 – Flock.

A murder of crows cawed raucously from their perch upon the jagged, naked limbs of the dying tree, challenging the insistent rapping of worn hammers, the loud hollering of tired workers, and the ever-constant roaring of rushing water. High up above, more crows circled lazily above in the grey and sunless sky, endlessly searching for scraps of food and trash among the laboring humans.

Well-trodden mud squelched underneath Rose's boots as she came to a halt, giving way to a group of workers laboriously heaving a heavy bundle of planks down the opposing path. Once the junction had cleared, the woman headed up the path the workers had come from, quietly humming a chipper tune to herself. Behind her, the cawing of the crows continued, incessantly demanding attention amidst the dreary grim, dreary weather besieging the west bank of the Griflet River.

"…stores of lumber are running exceedingly low."

The dangling green ornaments hanging from Rose's outfit trailed to a halt behind her as she stopped by the side of the path, discretely tilting her head to listen in on the voices coming from inside one of the tents lining the muddy trail on the outer edge of the campsite.

"It would seem that the project requires far more materials than the engineers had initially suspected." the man inside concluded gravely. "Princess…"

"I understand." replied a distinctive, feminine voice. "I shall see to it that additional resources are procured. Rest assured that you will receive whatever you deem is necessary for the completion of this project."

A pause followed as the other man leant forward in a bow. "Princess Alisha. I dearly appreciate the aid you've provided. It has made things far, far easier for all of us ever since your arrival. Thank you."

"Do not hesitate to ask me for anything else." came the reply. "Keep up the good work."

Rose watched from the corner of her eye as two royal guard soldiers lifted the flaps to the tent, allowing the foreman to exit the Princess's tent and letting them fall shut after he had left. She crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side curiously.

On the other side of the fabric walls, Princess Alisha let out a quiet breath as she returned to her workplace, a temporarily desk and chair setup amidst the damp, poorly lit interior of the tent emblazoned with the crest of the Royal Family. Her armor pieces clinked quietly amidst the muffled sound of construction outside as she leaned forward, picking up the quill inside the inkpot while procuring a fresh scroll meant for royal decrees.

"Hey there. Alisha, right?"

The princess let out a soft gasp, her free hand reflexively wrapping around the royal dagger sheathed at her waist as she registered the intruder in her tent. Her expression morphed into one of confusion as she found a familiar merchant standing in front of her desk with a friendly, nonchalant smile on her face.

"You're… Rose, of the Sparrowfeathers." Alisha mumbled, blinking in confusion; her hand was still wrapped hesitantly around the handle of her dagger. "How did you get past the guards outside?"

The familiar merchant called Rose casually laid a hand on her hip, confidence clear in her stance. "It'll take more than that to stop the Shepherd's Squire from dropping in to say hi." she boasted, a friendly grin on her face.

Understanding dawned upon Alisha's expression, her eyes widening in surprise. "...Oh!" she gasped. "Then you must be a new Squire of Sorey's!" Her hand fell away from the handle of her dagger as she stood up from her chair. "I take it that means Sorey and the others are here as well?" she prompted.

"Yep." Rose's hand fell from her hip. "Though we sure didn't expect to find you here." She gestured with her head towards the accumulated paperwork laid out on the desk. "Don't princesses usually have better things to do than this kinda stuff?" she asked curiously.

Alisha blinked, remembering the decree she'd been working on still lying unwritten on the surface of her writing desk. "While that normally the case, the council members voted unanimously in favor of such an assignment for me." She pursed her lips, shifting on her feet. "They explained that they considered it the best thing for a princess recently suspected of treason to do to 'redeem' herself." she quoted dully.

Rose narrowed her eyes. "In other words, it's a big slap-in-the-face insult." she summarized, crossing her arms. "You're the princess though, right?" she reasoned. "Isn't there anything you can do about it?"

Alisha frowned in response to her words. "Strictly speaking, there are avenues of legal action that I could take for retaliation." she replied neutrally. She shook her head, her blonde hair trailing with the gesture. "Yet after all that has happened in recent days with the war and all, I decided it would be best to not aggravate the council members more. Political capital is something that is best conserved, to be used when most effective, after all."

"Politics, huh?" The merchant shook her head in sympathy, waving her helplessly hand in the air. "Must be hard, trying to singlehandedly push ten tons of idiot up a hill every day."

Alisha couldn't help but break into a stifled giggle, smartly covering her offensive smile with her gauntleted hand. "That's one way to put it." she laughed. "Nevertheless," she continued, "those are the rules of the game. One that I shall continue to play for the good of this country, regardless of what trials I must undergo."

The merchant tilted her head to the side, giving her a quiet, measuring look. "...Either way, you're doing a swell job here, for sure." she replied with a light grin. "I'm sure those greasy councilmen didn't expect you to gather so much favor from such a lowly job as this – I'd expect nothing less from the famous Princess Alisha herself!"

The woman in question tilted her head to the side. "Truly?" Alisha modestly interlaced her fingers together. "If the head of the highly reputable Sparrowfeathers says as much, then I truly must have done a good job." she noted with a smile.

Rose happily rested both hands on her hips. "Looks like Sorey really does have good taste in Squires, huh?"

Unable to help herself, the princess held a hand up over her mouth. "Well, I can hardly disagree with that." The two women shared a laugh over the sentiment amidst the sheltered ambiance of the tent. Through the thin walls of the temporary dwelling, the clamor of construction continued, punctuated with the cawing of the resident crows circling above.

"I trust that Sorey, Velvet, and the others are doing well?" Alisha asked after a pause, changing the subject. "It's been weeks since I last saw them."

Rose's expression shifted strangely. "Yeah... about that." the merchant began. "Sorey and the seraphim are out buying stuff from the traders right now." The omittance in her statement was not lost on Alisha.

Before she could ask, Rose quickly held up a hand, halting her inevitable questions. "Just hold on." she urged her quietly. "I think it's best if he told you what happened."

Visibly swallowing her unspoken questions, Alisha nodded, hardening her expression. She wordlessly secured her writing desk, placing the unwritten decree inside a drawer before she stepped around it and up to the merchant. Without wasting another moment, Rose turned and, stepped out of the tent, the princess in tow.

The framework of the reconstructed Griflet Bridge stood out from amidst the raging waters below, jutting out of the unnatural pillars of raised rock dotting the length of the river. It consisted of a haphazard yet sturdy series of embedded stone and wood that linked the pillars together, managing to create a foundational surface functional enough to support a single loaded caravan across the hazardous waters.

The Shepherd stood by himself near the raging river's edge, his cloak fluttering behind him amidst the rushing winds as he watched the figures of the workers moving to complete the rest of the bridge - the project that he had enabled by his own hand. He turned away from the scene, however, at the sound of their approaching footsteps.

"Alisha!" he exclaimed with wide eyes, finding the princess walking up to him amidst the dirt and grime of the Griflet River construction encampment. "What are you doing here?!"

"I heard one of the workers mention her." Rose called, trotting up to the Shepherd behind the princess. "Turns out she's been assigned here to keep her out of sight, courtesy of those bums leading Hyland."

"Sorey." Alisha greeted without wasting words. "While I am pleased to see that you and presumably the rest of the seraphim are well, you must let me know what has happened." She took an urgent step forward. "What happened to Velvet?" she implored, concern flooding her eyes. "Is she alright?"

"I didn't tell her." Rose added quietly. "I figured it would be best for it to come from your mouth."

His expression growing grim, Sorey nodded, returning his gaze to meet his former Squire's worried eyes. "Alisha..." He briefly shook his head, starting over.

"Velvet lied to us." he stated quietly. "She's... a hellion."

The Shepherd watched mutely as a myriad of emotions flickered through the princess's expression in response to his words. Eventually, confusion made way for disbelief, driving her to step forward with wide eyes. "But that's impossible!" she exclaimed loudly. "How…"

She shook her head furiously. "...How could Lailah and the others not have known the whole time she was with us?!" she demanded.

Sorey let out a grunt of surprise as the princess abruptly latched onto his hand without his permission, squeezing her eyes shut and waiting silently for an audibled response amidst roaring of water. The rest of the seraphim, unseen by the princess, turned to Lailah as she stepped forward.

"Alisha." Lailah answered softly, her words reaching the partially resonant woman through Sorey's touch. "What Sorey says is true." she confirmed sadly. "Velvet had indeed hidden her true nature away, undetectable to even us seraphim."

Mikleo crossed his arms with a serious expression. "I know you held her to some degree of respect." he added, shaking his head. "But you have to understand, she tried to manipulate Sorey because he was the Shepherd. She's essentially an enemy of ours, now."

"An enemy…?" Alisha mumbled quietly, her grip on Sorey's hand faltering. "How could this be…?"

Sorey watched mutely as disbelief dominated the princess expression. Yet he pushed forward.

"Alisha." His voice caused the distraught princess to open her eyes and release the Shepherd's hand. "There's important something I have to ask you as well." When she replied with a hesitant nod, he pressed forward.

"Where is Maltran?" His tone was urgent.

Still clearly processing the evident betrayal of one of her supposed allies, Alisha struggled to answer the Shepherd's question. "Lady Maltran…?" she parroted tentatively, clearly failing to see the importance of such a request. "...My master has been off supervising efforts on the front lines." she eventually replied, tilting her head to the side in clear confusion. "Why?"

Before Sorey could respond, a yell from behind the princess drew their attention.

"Princess Alisha!"

Everyone present turned towards the newcomer as he jogged up urgently to the princess, huffing and puffing. "A runner... A runner from the Basin arrived just now." he breathed urgently, coming to a halt with a tired yet proficient bow to his superior. "The Royal Advisor has issued a summons for you, princess. You are to head to the front lines to meet her at once."

Alisha flashed a confused glance at Sorey's alert expression before returning her gaze to the still-exhausted messenger. "I-I understand." she replied, nodding in affirmation. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

Catching his breath, the young man seemed to glow with the princess's gratitude. He blinked before remembering suddenly, "Oh! There's more. The foreman was just informed about developments regarding the issues of the third pillar. He wished to pass on that message as well."

"The cracks in the foundations, you mean?" The princess leaned forward intently. "Have the men found a way to address them in a safe manner?"

The messenger opened his mouth to respond.

Edna's boots sank into the grass behind Sorey as she stepped up to his side, unseen by the other humans as Alisha fell back into her position of authority. The earth seraph's translucent umbrella whirled soundlessly upon her shoulder amidst the overcast weather as she spoke up quietly, ignoring the logistical conversation of the princess and the messenger.

"You gonna tell her?" she asked in an inflectionless voice.

Standing beside her, Lailah pursed her lips, shifting on her feet. "Alisha has always held her master in the highest regard." the fire seraph contemplated soberly. "If she were to learn that her one true pillar of support has actually been manipulating her this entire time..."

Dezel stood motionlessly amidst the winds. "Regardless of how strong they are, every human has their weak spot where malevolence can seep through the cracks." He crossed his arms grimly. "Put some thought into whether this might backfire in the end."

"Maybe that's what Maltran was shooting for when she revealed herself to us." Mikleo considered. "That we'd tell her, and then she'd fall to malevolence. ...But there's too many unknowns. We have no idea her intentions, and now with these summons..." The seraph sighed, shaking his head. "I don't like any of this one bit." he finished glumly.

The Shepherd shook his head slightly, his eyes determined as the Princess of Hyland finally turned back to face him again, having dismissed the runner. The decision came to him naturally the moment he was faced with the princess's trepid, uncertain expression.

"Alisha." Sorey prompted without hesitation. "I'd like to ask you to re-establish the Squire's pact."

The princess's eyes widened. "S-Sorey...?" she stammered uncomprehendingly.

Mikleo put a thoughtful hand to his chin. "...I see." he mumbled. "Take Alisha with us." He let his hand fall from his face. "It's probably the safest option on the table at the moment."

Standing behind her, Rose crossed her arms. "Hey, not a bad idea." she remarked, drawing Alisha's incredulous gaze. "If we have her tag along for a bit, then she'll be out of danger. Smart." She pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "I'm sure the workers here are going to be alright without a princess helping them – besides, for what it's worth, those grease bag council members probably won't bat an eye if Alisha goes missing for a few weeks."

"Wh-what danger am I in that could possibly warrant this?!" the princess asked urgently, turning away from Rose and back towards him. She shook her head. "Beyond that, what of my resonance?" she pressed. "Won't you begin to lose your eyesight, just like last time?"

The Shepherd shook his head. "Your resonance won't be a problem, Alisha." he stated firmly. "I've grown stronger since the last time." His lips drew into a thin line as he met the princess's gaze resolutely. "This is all because of Maltran, Alisha." he explained quietly. "She can't be trusted."

Alisha's eyes were wide and incredulous as she struggled to comprehend the meaning behind what she was being told. "W-why in the world would you even say that?!" she demanded hotly.

Sorey's sad expression didn't change.

The seraphim, Rose, and Sorey watched mutely as the princess's eyes widened in slow horror, understanding dawning as she interpreted just what the Shepherd's look meant.

"...You... You don't mean...?!"

She glanced over her shoulder at Rose, only to find a similarly grim expression on the merchant's face as well. Her lower lip began trembling for a brief second before she forced her mouth to close, squeezed her eyes shut, and curled her hands into fists by her sides, struggling to contain her emotions.

Silence fell, filled only by the rushing of water and the distant clamor of construction upon the Shepherd's bridge. High in the air, a lone crow cawed loudly amidst the sea of grey above, the rest of its companions having descended to return to the rest of the murder.

"…Lailah." she breathed softly; her eyes still squeezed tightly shut. "If you would."

After a pause, the humming of the Prime Lord's powers rang in the princess's ears as she felt the strangely familiar sensation of the Shepherd's powers coursing through her veins. She felt it all return at once, slowly arising from obscurity with her reawakened senses – the malevolence, the seraphim, the mana that flowed through the air – all of it.

She slowly slid her eyes open to find them all standing before her; the Shepherd's Squire once more. She gazed at them all, her expression growing stronger with each passing moment. Her hands fisted tighter by her sides.

"...I trust you, Sorey." she said quietly. "Thus, if it is what you believe is safest for me, then I shall accompany you for the moment." She shook her head, her blonde hair swaying from side to side. "Nevertheless, please...

"Tell me everything that's happened."

The Shepherd's eyes were soft as he nodded, accepting her request. "We will." he promised gently.

Rose nodded as well, stepping forward. "We'll give you the whole rundown on the way, don't you worry." She waved her hand in the air. "But for now, I'd say it's best to get going – who knows what Maltran will do when she figures out that Alisha's onto her."

Alisha let out a quiet breath, clearly attempting to collect herself with a clenched fist pushed up against her chest. "...Okay. Where are we headed?"

"The last and final stop for the Shepherd on the path to power." Mikleo, now clearly visibly to the newly reappointed Squire, answered. "The Shrine of the Trial of Fire."

The flowing of the river waters continued unceasingly in the background, rippling with fierce, untamed power amidst the stagnant weather.

---​

The torches lining the stone walls burned eternally amidst the smoldering heat, fueled by the seraphic artes surging through the walls of the ancient underground shrine. Rusted metal bars embedded in gaps of stone brick allowed for glimpses of the lake of underground lava smoldering menacingly amidst the massive cavern outside. Through it all, the group's repetitive footsteps were the only echoing sounds amidst the forebodingly silent fortress that served as the Shrine of the Trial of Fire.

Princess Alisha mutely trailed Shepherd's group, staring down at her gauntleted hands coupled before her as she stepped perfunctorily forward. Her armored boots clanked a steady and repetitive rhythm underneath, the sound echoing in her ears as her thoughts consumed her.

Walking near the head of the group, Mikleo crossed his arms soberly. "...Alisha hasn't said much, has she?" he said quietly. "I can't imagine what could be going through her mind right now. First we had to break the news of Velvet being a hellion... and then the same for Maltran."

Lailah nodded deeply, walking alongside the water seraph. "Yes." she sighed in dismay. "Alisha had looked up to both of them, her mentor the most above anyone else. The shock from the revelation must have been incredible."

"We threw into doubt the one pillar of support she's been counting on." Edna observed matter-of-factly. "It's no wonder she hasn't said much ever since yesterday."

"The fact that she hasn't succumbed to malevolence already is perhaps a sign of her inner strength." Lailah supposed, interlinking her hands before her with a distraught expression. "And yet..." she added in a subdued voice, "it's clear that she hasn't fully internalized it."

"She probably won't until she sees Maltran again with her own eyes." Edna spun her umbrella in a perfunctory movement, letting it roll endlessly upon her shoulder as she walked. "If she accepts it at all." she added matter-of-factly. "Humans are fragile like that."

Mikleo put a finger to his chin, frowning. "I do get what Sorey was thinking when he broke the truth to her and had her come along, but even still..." He shook his head, his eyes sober. "I have to worry what would happen if Alisha were to succumb to malevolence." he muttered quietly. "Especially since she is a Squire once again."

In response to his words, Lailah exhaled worriedly, glancing over her shoulder at the distraught princess with worry in her eyes. By her side, Edna walked on, twirling her umbrella once more in time with her repetitive steps.

The flame-lit corridors of the immense fortress of flame twisted and turned like massive hollow serpents of stone, leading the Shepherd's group deeper and deeper into the quiet depths of the enormous lava cavern. Tendrils of magma seeped through the walls in veins of varying sizes, radiating almost unbearable heat into the hallways and serving as haunting, ominous figures embedded in the walls that watched the group as they passed in silence.

"Hey, no hard feelings, right?"

It took Alisha a few moments to register that the uttered words had been addressed to herself, whereupon she blinked and glanced to the side to find the redhaired merchant walking alongside her with a light expression on her face. She found her voice. "Hard... feelings?" the princess parroted, blinking in confusion. "Whatever for?"

Rose raised her right hand in the air in a helpless gesture. "Well, I kinda took your place, didn't I?" she reasoned. "I heard from Sorey and the others that you were his previous Squire for quite a while before he ran into me. I didn't want you to resent me for pretty much taking over your spot or anything like that."

Alisha found herself quickly shaking her head in response. "Oh no! I feel nothing of the sort, Rose." she reassured honestly.

Her expression grew distant as she crossed her gauntleted arms. "...Truth be told," she admitted, her eyes drifting to the side, "a part of me does wish that I had continued my travels with Sorey and the others. The time that we had spent together had taught me much about the world… So much so that I found myself growing more and more accustomed to having a purpose alongside Sorey."

The princess let out a breath, letting her arms fall from her chest. "But in the end, my resonance simply was not sufficient to be the Shepherd's Squire." she finished. "If anything, I'm glad that you accompanied Sorey after I left, Rose." She smiled quietly, meeting the other woman's eyes. "Especially considering… everything that happened afterward." Her voice faltered.

Rose looked on with an empathetic expression.

Abruptly, the merchant raised her arms up in the warm air and casually stretched with obvious relish before resting her hands behind her neck. "Well, either way it looks like your resonance isn't a problem anymore!" she pointed out. "You and I are both Sorey's Squires now, even if it's only for the time being. And from the looks of things, he's doing just fine."

Her statement drew the princess's gaze towards the Shepherd walking at the head of the group as they continued deeper into the strange cavern.

She held a fist up to her chest in worry. "...Is it truly so?" she pondered quietly. "Are the spiritual powers of three of the four empyreans so mighty to as have cured my effect on his vision?"

"Quit being a worrywart." Rose's reassuring voice drew her gaze. "If Sorey says he's fine, he's fine." the merchant drawled. "He's gotten pretty good at learning his limits lately. If there's one thing that he's learned in the time I've been with him, it's been that."

Alisha pursed her lips, returning her gaze to the topic of their conversation. "…I imagine it was Velvet's words that elicited that from him." she guessed softly.

The merchant nodded.

The princess frowned as the topic that had similarly consumed her mind reared its head once more. "...Even with everything that I've been told, I still find it hard to believe that the woman that I traveled with for so long was and is the same as those monsters that we've been fighting." She fisted her hands. "Infinitely more so with my master."

Rose shrugged. "It doesn't bother me myself."

Alisha blinked. "Truly?" she asked in confusion.

"The way I see it," the merchant explained, "you and I lived for the longest time without knowing that seraphim and hellions ever existed. We got around just fine back then." She waved her hand reasonably in the air. "If Velvet or Maltran turn out to be just plain old monsters, then we'll just have to go to work purifying them. That's our job after all – the Shepherd's duty or something other."

She shrugged. "But there's no use in overcomplicating things or worrying about things that are outta our control. Simple as that."

"…I see." Alisha mumbled. "So that's how you see all of this."

"Yep." Rose grinned confidently. "For me, Squire or no Squire, hellion or human, evil is evil and good is good. That's just the way I think."

She blinked, catching herself soberly. "But… I'm sure things are different for you." she conceded, absently resting her left hand on the opposite shoulder. "The way the two of us look at things have to be fundamentally different after all... We do have totally different occupations, after all."

Rose drew Alisha to a brief halt, holding her shoulder meaningfully. "But listen. You let me know if you need any help, alright?" she urged with a friendly expression. "Being a kickass warrior princess aside, everybody needs a helping hand here and there."

She smiled gently. "And us Squires need to stick together, right?" the merchant reasoned.

Alisha found a small smile forming on her own lips. "I thank you dearly for the support, Rose." she replied softly.

She shook her head, her blonde hair swaying from side to side. "And I am genuinely glad I finally have the chance to travel with you, Sorey and the others. Even if it is under these circumstances, and only temporarily. Perhaps I might continue to do so, once we have determined my master's… intentions." She faltered slightly.

"Well, one step at a time." Rose reassured gently, waving the princess on. "C'mon."

Together, the two resumed their steps through the hallowed halls of the shrine, following the rest of the seraphim and the Shepherd deeper into the silent abyss. Up ahead, Sorey's eyes were alert and ready as he walked at the head of the group, surveying their eerily silent surroundings amidst the hellish cavern. His hand never strayed too far away from his sword at his hip. By his side, Dezel walked at a steady pace. "

…Not a single breath of wind." the seraph muttered under his breath. "No insects in the walls, no plants or shrooms in the dirt." He moved his head in Sorey's direction. "This place is dead."

The Shepherd nodded, absently wiping a gland of sweat off his forehead with the back of his glove. "It feels unsettlingly like a grave." he agreed, running his eyes along the length of the stone brick walls lining the corridor. "A pocket of the underworld long since buried and forgotten. It's quite incredible..."

The wind seraph too seemed to glance around, crossing his arms in the process. "...Hey. You sure you know what you're doing with that princess?" he uttered lowly, drawing Sorey's gaze. "You sure didn't pull any punches with her yesterday."

Sorey nodded resolutely, focusing his eyes forward. "Alisha's strong." he replied calmly. "I believe in her that she'll pull through." He shook his head. "Besides, I believe that I don't have the right to keep what's happened from her. She has every right to know."

Dezel grunted, letting his crossed arms fall. "Then what about Rose?" he growled lowly. "You going to let her know about me as well?"

The Shepherd glanced to the side, staring out of a pocket of iron bars at the lake of magma outside as they passed. "That you were controlling her before we met?" he considered quietly. "...To be blunt, I really don't know." he replied honestly. "Maybe."

"Maybe…?" Dezel bared his teeth. "You've got some nerve kid, you know that?" he growled aggressively.

"I'm still just trying to figure things out as I go." Sorey gave him a self-deprecating smile in return. "But it's like you said, Dezel. The world won't be saved by a soft Shepherd, right?"

The wind seraph went silent for a moment.

His lips upturned in a sneer. "…Hmph. At least you're learning." he muttered, raising his hand to adjust his top hat seated atop his head.

Abruptly, he tensed up, flexing his gloved hands as he readied the pendulums hidden up his sleeves. "Hey." the seraph warned loudly, drawing the attention of the rest of the group. "There's someone up ahead."

"About time." Edna sighed in exasperation, tapping the tip of her umbrella upon the stones. "I'm sick of cooking in this heat."

The vaulted room was walled with both raw rock and reinforcing stone brick, lined with large gashes of glowing magma oozing out into pools of red-hot liquid dotting the circular space. An ironclad chandelier hung from ceiling far above with a nest of rusted chains, blazing brightly with abnormally brilliant flames powered by seraphic artes that illuminated the lone figure shirtless figure sitting cross-legged in the center of the room below.

Long black hair trailed from the man's head, his warrior's build clearly defined in the stark lighting of the chandelier above. His eyes were closed shut, his palms empty and his arms resting casually upon his crossed legs. He breathed in and out at a steady pace amidst the silence, not reacting at all as the Shepherd's group entered his chamber.

After a pause, the man let out a breathy exhale, opening his eyes to reveal a vibrant, abnormally glowing yellow gaze.

"About time."

A sly grin crept into the Empyrean's expression as he locked gazes with Sorey, his powerful domain thrumming through the air and in the stones below with his awakening. "C'mon." he urged, sweeping up onto his feet while rolling his neck and shoulders. "Let's get this show on the road."

Rose's eyes widened as the man in the center of the chamber fell into a fighting stance. "Hey, hold on a sec!" she called in surprise. "We're just gonna fight? All the other Empyreans-"

"They're all boringly stiff." Musiphe drawled, shaking his head casually and holding his right arm over his shoulder.

FWOOSH!

A blinding flare lit up the room as a fierce blade of fire shot out from the Empyrean's fist, coalescing into an enormous longsword of pure flame that he rested easily upon his bare shoulder behind his neck. He gave them an amused, challenging grin. "What's the point of being a god if you don't take advantage of it once and awhile?" He waved his free hand in the air.

Rose's expression was incredulous as she automatically shifted the weight of her body onto the balls of her feet. "Is this guy for real?!" she demanded.

Lailah cheeks had reddened. "Well this was… rather unexpected." she chuckled nervously, reaching for her own casting cards.

"Fighting an Empyrean head on?" Mikleo muttered, conjuring his staff and falling into position. "Something tells me this won't go too well for us."

Edna sighed, taking a step back and raising her umbrella. "Annoying." she muttered.

Dezel bared his teeth, flexing his gloved hands. "I say bring it on." He curled his hands into a fist. "A chance like this doesn't just come by every day."

As the rest of the seraphim began to ready themselves in preparation for battle, Sorey glanced over his shoulder. "Alisha?" he prompted quietly.

The princess nodded back, a resolute strength in her stance as she readied her lance. "Do not concern yourself with me, Sorey." She gripped the lance readily, her gaze moving to their opponent in the center of the chamber. "I still remember how to fight."

Sorey returned her determined gaze, satisfied. With that, he turned back to face the Empyrean standing readily in the center of the chamber, hardening his stance. The Shepherd's blade sang loudly as it was the last weapon drawn, the sharpened ceremonial blade glinting in the harsh lighting as it was lowered readily at his side.

Facing down the Shepherd's group, the Empyrean grinned broadly as he slashed his with vivid familiarity, the flames of the generated weapon flaring as it sang through the air before him. "Good. Don't hold back." he warned lowly, his thrumming voice echoing off the surrounding walls.

His smile widened fiercely.

"You wouldn't want to disappoint me!" he roared, exploding into action and lunging forward.

"Let's go, everyone!" Sorey yelled, similarly breaking into a forward charge to meet the Empyrean head-on. Both Alisha and Rose flanked him on either side, determination in their expressions. The first of many seraphic artes fizzled and sang over their shoulders cast by one of the four seraphim behind them.

With barely a second thought, Musiphe batted Edna's arte away mid-stride with a flick of his wrist, the enormous longsword of flames intercepting and redirecting the projectile to explode off to the side. In the very next step, the tall, imposing warrior lashed out in a powerful, lightning-fast sweep that encompassed all three humans before him.

Rose leapt back in a dodge along with the rest of them, landing in an acrobatic stance upon the brick underfoot with narrowed eyes. "Watch out, he's tough!" she warned, kicking off and rushing to their opponent's side, her blades held down low at the ready.

His boots scuffing on the stones, Mikleo skidded roughly to a halt with his staff at the ready, artificial winds humming around him as his arte finalized. "His blade can reroute artes!" he called. "Sorey, Alisha, Rose. Focus on keeping him occupied!" His eyes flashing a bright, abnormal hue for a split second, the seraph unleashed his powers, sending a torrent of water mana through the air.

CLANG!

Musiphe's grin was untouched as his blade bounced off Alisha's spear, the sheer power of his blow sending the woman stumbling backwards. Without a glance nor a second thought, he flicked his wrist once more to deflect Mikleo's arte off into the distance as he advanced upon the woman. "C'mon!" he goaded, easily bringing his sword back down in a follow-up swing. "Is that all you got?!"

CLANG!

Sorey grunted as his own blade met Musiphe's in order to block its path towards Alisha. Without pause, the Shepherd stood his ground against the immense power jarring through his body and deflected the flaming blade into the air, lunging forward and getting inside the reach of his opponent. "Searing Gale!" Razor-sharp winds commanded by his blade exploded mid-swing.

The wind arte was blocked with a quick curtaining swipe of the grinning Empyrean's blade, who blocked Sorey's sword in the same swing. His sandal crunched in the brick underfoot as he stepped back, pivoting his arms to bring his weapon back down upon the Shepherd.

"Rending Strike!"

"Driving Thorn!"

Alisha and Rose's blades met with a resounding clash in the wake of their simultaneous artes as their quarry dodged them in a prompt backwards leap. The two exchanged a quick glance of shared amusement before disengaging, leaping away as a blade of flames tore through where they had just been standing.

"Now, Dezel!" Lailah's long hair ripped through the air as she finalized her arte, eliciting a violent burst of flame in a ring around the Empyrean, instantaneously engulfing his figure in smoke.

At her side, Dezel pivoted to the side and made a fist. "Vengeant Fangs!" he snarled. The circle of flames and smoke that had consumed Musiphe were promptly crushed between two enormous jaws of wind with an ear-piercing crash that shook the very cavern itself, rattling the chandelier hanging in the ceiling above.

Collectively, the Shepherd's group came to a halt, warily eying the simmering flames and obscuring pillar of smoke as a deceptive calm gripped the chamber.

"Not bad…"

The smoke and flames were snuffed out a waft of the Empyrean's sword, revealing the swordsman leaning back with a two-handed overhead grip and a fierce, indulgent grin. Mana swirled in copious amounts at his feet, seeping out and filling the domain with pure, foreboding power. Sorey's eyes widened in alarm.

"But let's seen what you've really got!" Musiphe declared with a roar, wrenching the blade directly into the ground before him.

An enormous spiderweb of pure power exploded out from the point of impact, almost instantaneously reaching the opposite end of the chamber and engulfing the two seraphim standing together. Alarm flooded the expressions of Lailah and Dezel the split second before the searing white paths of power detonated underfoot with a shattering, all-encompassing roar.

BOOM!

The entire expanse of the cavern shook violently as the Empyrean's power poured through the earth, disturbing lakes of boiling-hot magma and caving in ages-old tunnels throughout the entire underground region. Slowly, the surging mana began to fade with a ponderous groan, reducing the strength of the power engulfing half of the chamber and revealing the results of the Empyrean's handiwork.

The two seraphim had apparently vanished without a trace, leaving behind only an empty, desecrated subsection of the chamber behind. A satisfied grin was on Musiphe's face.

"TOWER OF BLOOD!"

He was quick to lunge to the side, avoiding an enormous surge of flames as Sorey, draped in the angelic garb of the Fire Armatus, swept his longsword through the air with a fierce roar.

Immediately, Musiphe was met by piercing blades of wind as Rose swept in overhead, her glowing yellow eyes flaring with power as she jerked her extended index finger at him.

"WINDS!" she declared; her voice combined with Dezel's.

CLANG! CLANG!

The enormous longsword of mana deflected the barrage of singing wind blades as Musiphe batted them away at inhuman speeds, sending them crashing into the ground all around him with rattling explosions.

"Now we're having fun!" He let out an indulgent roar as he followed through with his last deflection, slashing in the air towards Rose's gliding form with a burst of power. Her eyes widened as she belatedly registered the ball of flame hurtling directly towards her, unable to change her trajectory in the split second before impact.

BANG!

The fireball slammed directly on target, engulfing Rose in flames and sending her careening violently into the floor. The glowing neon green wings on her back crumpled in disarray as she tumbled to a halt, pushing herself up with her arm with gritted teeth. She forced her head up only to widen her eyes the Empyrean bore down upon her with full force, his eyes wide and enthused amidst the lust of battle.

Time slowed down. Alisha took it all in all in an instant – the gleeful smile of the Empyrean as he brought his sword back in preparation for a cleaving strike. Rose's eyes widening as she tried in vain to scramble to her feet, the wings of her armatus clattering against the stone floor...

"'...stupid, insufferable princess...'"

The words that her master had supposedly said surfaced once more in her head sharp as knives which caused her to grit her teeth in fury. Then, without thinking, the Princess of Hyland opened her mouth and let the familiar syllables flow.

Mikleo's eyes widened in surprise as the familiar sensation of the Armatus activated within himself, directly channeling his body through the Squire's pact and into Alisha's link.

"LUZROV RULAY!"

Blinding white light shot out from the princess's body as she was engulfed in mana, all while she fell into a shooting stance, drawing her strong arm back while closing her non-dominant eye as if it were second nature. The incoming attack forced Musiphe to abandon his lunge and leap to the side in avoidance as it drilled a hold into the opposite side of the chamber.

"Alisha?!" Sorey's glowing eyes were wide as he took in the form of the armatized princess.

"Oh my!" Lailah's disembodied voice exclaimed in pleasant surprise.

Musiphe jerked his blade up to deflect a follow-up barrage of bolts of water further preventing him from capitalizing upon Rose's momentary disability. "As the Princess of Hyland… the Squire of the Shepherd... and as the pupil of my master...!" Drawing her back once more, Alisha had a ferocious expression on her face.

"I, Alisha Diphda, I will not fail!"

Emotion surged forth with the outlet of power provided by the Armatus as the princess unleashed another barrage of water upon the one threatening Rose's life. "OPEN THE WAY FORTH!" Alisha and Mikleo declared simultaneously, unleashing a full-fledged torrent of water mana.

Edna raised an eyebrow as she jerked her umbrella up once more, finalizing her arte to jut a blade of earth towards the Empyrean. "She figured out how to activate the armatus on her own." she observed matter-of-factly.

"Looks like I underestimated her." Dezel grunted as his Armatus with Rose dispelled, reappearing with his pendulums at the ready. "She's not as fragile as she looks."

Rose herself had a smirk on her face as she danced away from Musiphe's blade, flinging daggers towards the Empyrean to distract him as Dezel's pendulums attempted to penetrate his guard. "Heck yeah! Thanks for the save, Alisha!" she called, twisting her body in an abrupt backflip as the Empyrean's blade swept underfoot.

CLANG!

Sorey's armatized longsword and Musiphe's blade bounced off each other as the Shepherd inserted himself between the Empyrean and the squire, his expression carved with determination and vigor. "Rose! Have Dezel heal your wounds." he ordered through gritted teeth as the two exchanged another set of crashing blows. "Alisha! I'm counting on you!"

The armatized princess had a wide, determined smile on her face as she swept her feet to the side, sacred bow held at the ready. "I am at your service!" she replied forcefully as the Shepherd exchanged more blows in the center of the chamber.

"I'm impressed." Mikleo's disembodied voice resounded strangely in Alisha's mind and out loud as the two leapt to the side, avoiding two fire artes Musiphe had briefly swept their way. "I had my doubts, but it would seem that you're stronger than ever, Alisha."

The princess shook her head, drawing her bow back once more and narrowing her eyes. "No, Mikleo." she disagreed, her eyes abruptly being drawn away from the battle. "I've simply figured out a way of looking at all of this."

She shook her head, closing her non-dominant eye as she gauged the distance and predicted effects of her intended action. "Regardless of what she is or what her intentions were in doing so, Lady Maltran raised me to stronger standards. Therefore, until I see her face-to-face and confront her for myself, I will simply consider this her latest test of my will."

Her aim steadied. "And I for one, do not intend to disappoint her!" With a fierce cry, the princess released the projectile and forcing the powers of the Armatus to flow through her once more.

CRACK!

Both Sorey and Musiphe snapped their heads up in alarm as the chains holding the ironclad chandelier above were pierced with a deafening, grating squeal, sending the burning metal mass careening down like a flaming meteor.

At that very moment, Rose let out a cry, slamming her fist into the ground before her. Mimicking her movements, the stone fist of Edna's Armatus crashed into the earth with a thundering roar, mana surging from the fist and through the crushed stone towards the Empyrean. Sorey's Armatized form vanished in a plume of white as he instantly separated himself from Lailah, allowing both of them to independently dive away for cover as Musiphe's form was engulfed between the spear of rising earth and the freefalling metal chandelier.

CRASH!

Metal and earth slammed against each other in a godly explosion of flame and dirt, igniting the trailing gasses leaking from the structure and instantly creating an explosive column of flame that blinded those inside the chamber for a brief moment alongside a deafening roar.

Breathing hard, Sorey pushed himself to his feet, kicking off the bricks to put some distance between himself and where the chandelier had crashed.

"Ack!" he exclaimed belatedly, turning around to face the point of impact while readjusting his grip on his sword. "Whoa! That was super close!" he gasped, wiping his face with the back of his free hand while facing the now-simmering flames of the fallen chandelier crackled.

Alisha put a hand to her mouth, her eyes wide. "Oh no!" she gasped. "I'm so sorry! I... I was carried away in the moment!"

"Alishaaa!" Lailah voice whined petulantly as she backed hurriedly away while automatically drawing her casting cards in her hands. "My hair nearly caught on fire!" she pouted.

Dezel crossed his arms incredulously. "Aren't you a fire seraph?" he asked gruffly, warily studying the pile of debris for further movement.

He gulped when the prime lord shot him an uncharacteristically murderous look in return. "You should know it takes hours to comb my hair to make it look like this in the morning!" she seethed. "For shame, Dezel! Shouldn't a grown male seraph such as yourself should have a little more tact when speaking to a lady like me?!" she demanded, flames in her eyes.

The wind seraph looked away quickly under the weight of her piercing words, sweat unrelated to the heat dripping down his temple. "O-okay." he stammered.

"Haha…" Sorey chuckled nervously, giving the distressed Squire behind him a thumbs up in the wake of her attack. "Well, no harm, no foul." he remarked, a grin on his soot-covered face. "Thanks for the help, Alisha."

"Yeah!" Rose shared the sentiment, a wide smile on her face as she readied herself for further combat with the Armatus. "And you figured out how to armatize on your own!" She pumped a fist in the air enthusiastically. "That was kickass, Alisha!"

The princess's face reddened.

She cleared her throat. "I-I thank you for the complement, Rose." she accepted while shifting on her feet, her bow held at a low ready before her. "I'm just happy I can be of service to you all."

"Hey. Sword nutso's still moving."

Edna's words drew their attention back to the smoldering wreckage in the center of the chamber. The group tensed in alarm as flaming debris shot out, pushed out by the form of Musiphe as he rose from the ashes, his partially naked body completely untouched by the flames dancing around him. Pleasantly standing amidst the fire without any visible damage to his body, the Empyrean shrugged casually, rolling his shoulder.

"Not bad at all." The man's easy grin glinted the light of the flames as he waved his free hand, snuffing out the surrounding inferno without a second thought. "I'd say we should stop here, unless you wanted to revive the volcano that we're in." he reasoned with a sly grin.

A shocked silence fell.

His body wrapped by a fading glow in the wake of the dispelled Armatus, Mikleo stepped forward in utter aghast. "You're telling us that we've been fighting inside a dormant volcano this whole time?!" he exclaimed incredulously. "Just what the heck kind of Empyrean are you?!"

Rose dispelled her Armatus with a wave of her hand, shaking her head. "I don't think you could be more different from the other three even if you tried." she exhaled, catching her breath with her hands on her knees.

Musiphe chuckled in amusement at their reactions, stepping off the smoldering pile of ashes while swinging his blade of flames around idly. "The soul I ate was a bit too rowdy to suppress like how my fellow Empyreans have done theirs." He shrugged, resting the blade upon his neck in the process. "Still, it's been awhile since I actually showed up in this form. Figured if everyone else was doing it, why not take advantage of it?"

Alisha held a fist up to her chest, furrowing her brow. "And these recent abnormalities with the other Empyreans were the result of Velvet's presence... starting with Eumacia?" she asked hesitantly.

"Correct." Musiphe's voice echoed amidst his powerful domain as he swiped his blade forward, angling it towards the princess across the room. "That hellion lady sure caused a stir with the others. Turns out they hadn't suppressed their consumed souls nearly as well as they'd wanted to." The man shrugged nonchalantly, lowering his sword.

Sorey stepped forward. "Did you also know Velvet from your time?" he asked seriously. "Just like the others?"

"She ate me. In this very spot, actually." The Empyrean's expression was nonchalant as he flipped the flame-sword in his grip, resting the tip upon the stones at his feet. "And that was a long time before this volcano was converted into a shrine." He gestured to their surroundings – the deserted, forgotten underground cavern wreathed in silence.

Alisha stepped forward, confusion plain in her expression. "And you… harbor no resentment towards her?" she asked, her voice echoing off the walls.

"Nah, I don't give a damn." The tall, powerful warrior easily rested his blade of mana on his neck once more, waving a nonchalant hand in the air. "She deserves my respect, if anything. My little brother grew into a warrior fit for the family name by her side." His lips upturned into a smirk. "Without her, he never would have gained the strength to cut me down back then."

"…What?" Sorey breathed in disbelief.

Behind him, Mikleo's expression was incredulous. "You respect her…?" he repeated incredulously. "A Lord of Calamity?"

"That's a fancy, meaningless title. Nothing more than that." Musiphe waved a hand flippantly. "Sure, she's capable of wrecking the world if it comes to it. But so is the Shepherd." He shrugged easily. "That's why we Empyreans now go through all this trouble to do these tests."

He paused, seeming to study Sorey in a new light. "...Well, in any case," he declared loudly after a pause, "you've now officially passed all our tests Shepherd." His blade of flame sang in the air as he angled it towards Sorey, a glint in his eye. "Question is, will she pass yours?"

The Empyrean held the Shepherd's hardened eyes, his fanged expression growing intrigued.

He let out a sigh as lowered his longsword, rolling his shoulders in the process. "You've a lot headed your way in the near future." he remarked. "Not many Shepherds in the past have had so much on their plate as you do. You can be sure that we'll be watching your actions with great interest, Shepherd." he promised, easily dispelling his flaming blade with keen shine in his gleaming eyes. "You can count on it."

With that, the Empyrean vanished in an explosion of flaming mana, disappearing back into the depths of the fiery volcano without a trace. And in his wake, the full extent of the Elemental powers surged through the air to converge upon Sorey, flowing through his veins with the true strength of the Shepherd.

He held up his hand, mutely examining the sacred symbol upon the back of his glove as the power transfer finished amidst the silent cavern. The newly reassembled full power of the Shepherd, now at his fingertips to wield.

For the battle against Calamity.

---​

Alisha's high-pitched giggles were uncontrolled despite her best efforts, ringing out past her muffling hand as she rocked back in her seat in amusement. Rose was in a similar predicament, bent over holding her stomach as she guffawed with near tears in her eyes.

Meanwhile, Mikleo and Sorey exchanged long-suffering looks, the former leaning his forehead against his fist whereas the latter had slumped over in his seat cushion, hanging his head glumly.

"Erm, Gramps…"

Sorey's voice was drawn-out and defeated. "Do we have to keep on looking at these?" the human implored, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, c'mon. This is embarrassing." Mikleo mumbled, his cheeks red. "I didn't even know you had so many drawings of us as kids."

Ever powerful and wizened in his deceptively diminutive stature, Zenrus turned his gaze upon the two boys he'd raised. "Seraph Carmina spent much time when you two were young laboring over those depictions." the aged seraph explained at length, gesturing with his simmering pipe towards the two Squires giggling over the scrapbooks at their feet. "She made them with the hope that they had the potential to one day be shown to Sorey's own children."

The seraph let out an amused huff, inserting the tip of the smoking pipe back into his mouth. "As that has yet to come to pass, these two humans will simply have to do for the time being." he stated matter-of-factly, reaching for the wooden ladle among the utensils laid out upon the wooden board in front of him.

"My own ch… children?!" Sorey's face had grown a distinct shade of red. "Gramps!" he exclaimed in mortification.

Mikleo valiantly rallied to his friend's defense. "That's hardly a matter that a human of Sorey's age should be concerned about. Especially not one burdened with the duty of the Shepherd." he reasoned.

Zenrus didn't spare him a glance as he tended to the simmering pot, carefully adding a dash of salt to the bubbling mixture. "Before, many of the seraphim here had not seen much less interacted with humans for much time." The wizened seraph gave Mikleo a brief, stern look as he set the ladle down. "It is only natural that some would take pride in the human Sorey has become, Mikleo. Do not blame them for wanting to also feel the renowned feelings of heritage experienced by the kind of a different species, such as that of parents sharing pictures of children, or of grandparents at the sight of a warm, cohesive family to survive them."

Mikleo's eye twitched. "But seraphim live way longer than humans!" he shouted.

Meanwhile, Sorey had simply buried his face in his palm, seeking to blot out the embarrassment with darkness. Unfortunately, that meant he still had to listen to the sounds of his two Squires giggling on the other side of the room at drawn images of himself and Mikleo in particularly romanticized fashion.

"Their cheeks are so round!" Rose chuckled in awe, eagerly flipping the page. "Squishy, even!"

Alisha was essentially beaming as she flipped the page again. "…Look!" she abruptly exclaimed, pointing to one of the weathered drawings adhered to the bound book. "This must be the boys playing with the goats."

Both women cooed, to the joint embarrassment of the grown boys desperately trying to ignore their comments through any means possible. All the while, Zenrus continued to tend to the stew. The elder sucked softly, breathing the smoking tobacco through his recently returned pipe with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

A light, refreshing feeling encompassed it all.

The circular room was filled with a warm, soft aroma of cooking stew, originating from the gently simmering pot in the center that was being stirred. Bright sunlight, intermittently interrupted by high passing clouds, seeped through the round windows embedded into the slanted structure wall, warming the room to a toasty temperature.

"These illustrations are fantastic, sir." Alisha smiled, ducking her head in respect to the aged seraph sitting across the hearth from her as Rose closed the scrapbook with a satisfied expression behind her. "I thank you for sharing these, as well as for allowing Rose and I to stay in the shrine."

Zenrus quietly slid the pipe from his lips, slowly exhaling a plume of tobacco that mingled with the rising steam of the stew.

"...The first time you appeared in this place," he recounted seriously, "I was prepared to do anything I needed in order to ensure the safety of this shrine and its denizens." His aged features crinkled in a frown. "Had you shown any signs of threatening our kind, purposefully or not, I would have struck you down without a second thought."

Alisha's eyes were wide in shock.

A kind smile quietly upturned Zenrus's lips. "Yet as has it has emerged, Princess Alisha, you are of yet a human of significant character and resilience. Sorey is fortunate to have met you as the first human in the prelude to his doubtlessly arduous journey."

The princess returned the seraph's words with a small, earnest smile. "He is not the only fortunate one." she added genuinely. "Thank you, sir seraph."

Zenrus nodded and lowered his gently smoking pipe. "A similar sentiment applies to you, Miss Rose." he added, turning his head slightly to face the other woman. "The boy can be smart at times but utterly thickheaded in others." He shook his head in exasperation. "It is reassuring to know that he has someone with intelligence such as yourself by his side."

"Awe, that's sweet. Thanks, Gramps." Rose grinned, crossing her arms in self-satisfaction.

"...There yet remain great challenges to you all as champions against the malevolence." Zenrus declared to all, his voice growing grave and serious as he included Sorey and Mikleo in the conversation. "Know that the warnings of history are not to be taken lightly. Take care in your stride and find the truth within yourselves."

His teeth clacked softly on the glazed wood of the pipe as he returned the tip of it to his mouth in satisfaction. "That is all the wisdom I can provide." he finished, tilting his head back and drawing deeply from the pipe in the wake of his words.

Sorey nodded seriously, getting to his feet as he stood up on the matted floor. "Thanks, Gramps." he returned gratefully. "We won't forget what you've said."

"As it should be." Zenrus tapped the wooden ladle on the rim of the pot three times, patiently letting the excess liquid drip off the utensil before setting it aside. "...And there is one final matter, Sorey."

"Hm?" Sorey tilted his head to the side.

"There is one who wishes to speak with you." the aged seraph stated ambiguously. "They await your arrival at the ruins on the far side of the shrine." He said no more, instead focusing his attention entirely upon the preparation of the stew.

Sorey exchanged a confused glance with Mikleo in the wake of the ambiguous declaration. "…I see. Then I guess I'll go see what's up." He returned his gaze to the seraph and nodded. "Thanks, Gramps."

Stirring the pot once more, the old seraph's gaze followed the Shepherd as he left; a strange, thoughtful expression etched on his face.

A gentle breeze met Sorey as he stepped outside, caressing his face and welcoming him into the soft sunlight basking the familiar rolling green hills of his home. Brilliant blue skies wrapped around the world, bordering the horizon of clouds obscuring the distant worlds below and overlooking the isolated collection of mountain peaks of the Shrine of Elysia. Home.

It was extremely peculiar, Sorey reflected as he set off down the hill, being back in the place in which he and Mikleo had grown up in. He waved with a gentle smile towards the familiar faces of his family, calling out their names and chuckling at their joking remarks as he passed. So much had changed, in both the world and his own perspective and place in it, and yet here they all were – his family and his home, forever unchanging in their existence.

It felt almost wrong.

Another soft gust disturbed the Shepherd's cloak hanging from his shoulders as he stepped alongside the stream chuckling down the rolling incline towards the distant entrance to the shrine. The sound of grass scrunching under his boots, the gentle breeze, and the distant laughter of conversing seraphim all served to draw his wandering thoughts away from the present and towards the night before.

---​

"Back to Elysia?" Sorey blinked rapidly, caught entirely off-guard by the suggestion.

On the other side of the campfire, Mikleo nodded in tandem. "Yes." the water seraph confirmed, setting his empty bowl on the grass before him. "The rest of us have been talking it over. We figure that we ought to stop by home, especially since we're so close for once."

"But we've only now finally gotten the rest of the Elemental Powers!" Sorey pointed out urgently. "Shouldn't we be looking to confront Heldalf or Velvet now?"

Edna squeezed the normin doll attached to her closed umbrella lying in her lap. "Sure." she agreed readily. "We can run through the entire continent if you'd like. Turn over every rock." She shrugged. "Kittybeard and Lady Grouchy are bound to show up in a century or so."

Rose tilted her head to the side. "Eguille and the others will let me know if any of them catch wind of the two." she assured reasonably. "There's no reason to run yourself into the ground after all the action we've seen lately." She splayed her hands, grinning. "And besides! I still haven't seen your home or met your folks yet. Why don'tcha introduce me?"

Alisha nodded deeply in agreement. "I myself still have to thank the seraphim in Elysia for allowing me to stay with you when we first met, now that I can see them. But that aside..." She set her empty bowl aside, leaning forward in her seat seriously.

"You've changed quite a bit, Sorey." she confided honestly. "I worry that the burden on your shoulders may be consuming your thoughts far too much." The princess indicated to the people around her with her hand. "All of us agree in that we believe it would be best for you to have some time to truly rest. If for just a moment."

"Yes." Lailah bobbed her head as well. "Many a Shepherd has in the past, overwhelmed themselves with their purpose and good intentions." she observed soberly. "Simply taking a break and seeing some old faces again does might do for the soul." Her smile was soft and genuine.

Sorey glanced around mutely at the faces of all his followers around the campfire, finding their concern and worry for him clear in in their eyes and gentle smiles. He exhaled slowly, visibly untensing his shoulders as he nodded slowly.

"Thanks, guys." he replied softly. He nodded his head, a distinct shine appearing in his eyes as he concluded, "Then let's go pay Gramps and the others a visit."

Alisha's expression brightened immediately. "Yes." she breathed, nodding her head wholeheartedly. "Then our next destination shall be Elysia!"

"Heck yeah!" Rose whooped pumping her fist in the air. "Hot food, warm beds, and good company. It's about time!" she cheered.

Standing in the shadows nearly out of reach of the flickering light of the campfire, Dezel let out a scoff under his breath, turning away to face the darkness beyond. "…Fat waste of time." he muttered darkly.

Behind him, Rose's ear twitched.

"…HEY!" Dezel wriggled in utter irritation and annoyance as arms wrapped around his neck in a harmless chokehold, accompanied by the weight of a full-grown woman playfully latching onto him from behind. "Get off-!"

Rose's smile was devilish as she leaned back, forcing the struggling seraph to stumble out of the shadows and into the light of the campfire. "C'mon, Dezel!" she drawled, still tightly clinging onto the seraph's back. "There'll be animals up there too! You can always hang out with them if you're too scared of interacting with actual people." she assuaged patronizingly.

The stumbling wind seraph bristled, baring his teeth in fury. "What the-?! Why the hell would I be scared of something as stupid as that?!" He wrestled against the iron grip of the two deceptively thin arms wrapping around his shoulders. "Get off already!" he roared.

Edna hummed noncommittally, idly blowing on the freshly brewed tea simmering in the mug in her grip. "Who knew Dezel could be such a softie." she remarked dryly.

Lailah fell into a fit of giggles, hiding her smile from view with a fan of casting cards.

Sorey's smile was soft as he turned his gaze down from the commotion, staring at the burning campfire cackling merrily away at his feet. Slowly, he focused, trying to let the tension fall from his shoulders in acceptance the well-meaning intentions of his close, loyal friends.

He found that he couldn't. Not quite.

The fire continued to burn, long and endlessly into the night.

---​

The monolithic collection of ruins stood as quietly and mysteriously as they always had, silently perched upon the edge of the cliff while overlooking the world below hidden by the vast sea of clouds. A pair of eagles circled lazily overhead amidst the bright sunlit day, occasionally letting out piercing cries as Sorey traversed the overgrown cliffside path by himself. He came to a halt at the end of the path, putting his hands on his hips in soft nostalgia as he beheld a length of rope tied off on a tree that snaked off the side of the cliff to the ruins below.

"...Still here, huh?" he said out loud, scratching his head with a soft smile. "Come to think of it, I was pretty proud of that knot. Looks like it held up after all this time." Dirt and grass crackled under his boots as he stepped up as close to the cliff's edge as he dared, leaning over to catch a glimpse of the ruins below.

His brown hair ruffled in the wind as he smiled in soft, familiar awe in the face of the massive structure beneath him. "This was the place where I first met Alisha." he reminisced quietly, shaking his head in disbelief. "...Funny just how long ago that all seems, now."

His gaze was drawn away from the ruins, instead towards the thick, impenetrable sea of white clouds obscuring the land beyond. The world that he now had a duty to – the one that he was tasked to change.

The smile on his face quietly faded away.

"...Shepherd."

A soft, feminine voice drew his attention, causing him to turn his head to find the one Gramps had allowed to enter into his domain walking up to him.

"Hey there." he greeted curiously, turning around to fully face the stranger. "Gramps said that you wanted to speak to me about something?"

Red hair cascaded down from her head and framed the middle-aged woman's expression as she watched him with similarly green-colored eyes, studying him keenly. The golden ornaments hanging off her long, regally accented white and blue dress waved mesmerizingly behind her as she quietly shifted on her feet, habitually holding her hands together before her dress.

"Yes." she confirmed; her voice strong with a hint of authority. "I thank you for coming out to meet me, given the circumstances." She paused for a moment, her sharp, vibrant green eyes digging into his gaze with an almost off-putting intensity.

Sorey returned the gaze evenly, rested a hand on his hip as he examined the sensation he was feeling radiating from the woman. "You're a seraph, right?" he prompted, breaking the silence. "I take it that's why Gramps let you enter his domain."

The stranger nodded; a strange look upon her face. Then, still holding the Shepherd's gaze, she opened her mouth and began.

"I have been following your actions over the past few weeks." Strands of red hair swept across her face amidst the breeze as she spoke. "Judging by what I have been told, I have come to believe that it would be best for me to speak with you now." Her measuring gaze seemed to pierce Sorey's with untold authority and experience behind her eyes. "It relates to someone that you, as one with the role of Shepherd, have an obligation to confront."

Understanding began to form in Sorey's expression as he straightened, scrutinizing the seraph standing before him in a new light. "...You knew Velvet too, didn't you?" he asked quietly, already knowing the answer.

Sorey watched as the strange seraph broke eye contact and turned to the side, her hair rippling amidst the gentle breeze as she stared off into the cloudy horizon. "Yes." she confirmed quietly, a strange look in her eyes. "From a different time, in different life. Before I had been reborn as a seraph."

Sorey furrowed his brow. "That's right... humans can be reborn as seraphim, under certain circumstances." he recalled quietly. "Then you used to be human..."

The nameless woman's boots crunched on the grass and dirt as she stepped off to the side, her expression hidden beyond the curtain of her hair as she stared off into the sea of clouds beyond.

"As Shepherd," she pronounced into the open air, "you are charged with the duty to use the powers at your disposal in order to shape the world in a manner that you believe is best. To lead the flock to greener pastures, and to vanquish the evils that threaten them."

She turned her head over her shoulder to face him, her eyes meaningfully holding his gaze. "It is an enormous burden – one that requires unparalleled will and strength. As such, you must know what you are doing." She cut her hand through the air in a decisive gesture. "You must know, in the depths of your heart, what you believe is best for this world." She raised an arm up to sweep across the cloudy expanse behind her, her lips drawn into a firm line.

"For there will always be a risk of Velvet Crowe losing herself once more, becoming a threat to the lives of those who live in this land." she declared boldly. "By extension, such is the threat of malevolence and of all the monsters that spawn them. Such is the nature of the world that has been entrusted you."

Sorey's expression darkened. "...You said you knew her?" he asked lowly, his eyes digging into hers.

The woman's gaze was steady as she let her gloved hand fall back to her side. "I am warning you of the choice you will have to make." she stated simply. "The path of the Shepherd demands the strength of conviction in the face of chaos. The savior of the world often has little allowance for hesitation."

Her fingerless gloves crinkled as she made a steady fist, her expression shifting as she averted her gaze. "I should know." she added, emotion coloring her dramatically softer voice. "The trials that I had gone through myself as a human were just as demanding and trying."

Sorey's breath hitched as he registered the seraph's meaning. "...You were a Shepherd as well." he realized quietly.

The Shepherd of a different time nodded her head slowly, holding her gloved fist up to her chest in reminiscence.

Beyond, the sea of clouds rippled and churned softly amidst the billowing winds of the sky. The shadow of one of the two circling eagles briefly flashed upon the ground between the two as it passed beneath the warm sun overhead. Behind them, the tranquil expanse of trees rustled as a stray breeze managed to reach their leaves, briefly disrupting the cool shadows of the canopy under which the overgrown ruins peacefully rested.

"...For what it's worth, I do hope you save Velvet from herself."

In contrast to her earlier unyielding voice, the seraph's voice had taken on a strange, almost nostalgic tone, drawing his gaze back towards her. Her expression changed strangely as she smiled softly at him, turning her body to face him as well.

"I saw the true horrors of the world and fought in vain to change it for the better." She shook her head slowly, closing her eyes briefly. "It was my dream to build a world in which all beings could coexist... Humans, seraphim, and hellions."

There was a hint of longing in her eyes as she reopened them. A distant look mixed with sorrow. "At the very least, that had been my intention." she finished sadly.

Sorey watched mutely as she stepped up to the edge of the cliff beside him, the winds rippling her dress and sending the cloak on her back flapping into the air behind her.

"It was what I had seen during my travels alongside the supposed 'Lord of Calamity' that had convinced me such a future was possible." she uttered softly. "My dream had thrived off of the hope that Velvet left the world, inspired by the strength of will that she held in the face a misguided man."

She paused. "...A man who too called himself the 'Shepherd.'" Her expression was hidden from view by the curtain of her hair as she stared out into the distance in reminiscence.

Sorey's eyes were wide with shock.

He opened his mouth to respond, yet nothing came out. The implications of the stranger's words were impossible for him to comprehend in an instant.

Her seraphic figure was framed in the sunlight akin to an almost holy figure as she turned to face him; a gentle expression on her face.

"...The roles we play in this life are up to nobody else but ourselves." she finished, smiling quietly.

She shook her head, her red hair rippling with the movement. "I failed to turn my dream into reality before I died. Yet I stand here before you, holding not a speck of regret nor shame for the actions I took." she said gently, holding Sorey's gaze. "I urge that at the very least, you strive to say the same come the end of your journey."

Grass and dirt crackled under her boots as she turned on her feet, directing her steps away from the Shepherd and down the path without another word. It took Sorey a moment to register that she was leaving for good.

"H-hold on!" he yelled, stretching out his hand towards the departing woman. "You never told me your name!"

The strange seraph came to a halt, drawing her boots together as she glanced over her shoulder at Sorey. Her smile was soft and empty. "I don't exist anymore." the woman replied sadly.

Sorey blinked in surprise.

"My memories returned long after I had been reborn, hundreds of years after my reborn self had developed a new identity of her own." Her foreign eyes held a strange look. "This 'new me' came here to share these memories with you out of respect for who I was and what she knew I would want. This will be the very last time that I will be remembered in such a way." She held a fist to her chest, her expression distant. "...Such is the agreement that she and I have reached."

Dirt crackled underneath her white boots as she turned away from his incredulous expression, facing the opposite path and towards the wilderness beyond.

"...You need not tell Velvet of my existence." the stranger added quietly. "There is simply no reason to haunt her with figments of a lost time." Behind her, the golden ornaments hanging from her foreign dress rippled in the breeze.

"She has suffered far more than enough as is."

With a gratuitous hum of power, the seraph vanished into the warm sunny afternoon like a specter from the past, leaving behind not a trace of her existence.

For some reason, Sorey knew that he would never see her again.

His mind raced with conflicting thoughts in the aftermath of the exchange; his heart unable to decipher the strange emotions coursing through his head. It all seemed impossible – the conflicting accounts of all those who had interacted with the person he'd once considered his friend. The one who had lied to him throughout his journey – the one he had been tasked to destroy.

High up above, the two circling eagles let out simultaneous hunting cries, announcing their intent to the world at large amidst the heavens.

CRASH!

Sorey was forced out of his thoughts in a jolt of shock as deafening booms of artificial thunder reverberated through air, shaking the ground underfoot with a dull boom that rang in his ears. Alarmed, the Shepherd kicked off into a run, sprinting down the path at a breakneck pace while reaching for his sword.

The distant volatile thunder continued in the distance, generated by the clash of domains.

The rest of his seraphic family stood at the ready at the entrance to the village, Rose and Alisha among their midst as they stood against the enormous break in the world beyond. He ran as quickly as he could to Gramps's and Mikleo's sides, giving them a quick, serious nod as he drew his own sword, readying himself as he faced the mass of malevolence encroaching upon the treasured world within which he'd been raised.

The grip on his sword tightened as her form emerged from the darkness beyond.

Velvet Crowe's glowing red eyes were fixed on his as she came to a halt just beyond the clashing boundaries of her domain against Zenrus's, her expression cold with sharpened determination. By her side, her enormous claw pulsated, flourishing amidst the whipping chaos of her corrupted domain.

"Sorey."

Her voice carried easily above the thunderous crashing of energy as the boundaries of her malevolence fought with Zenrus's lightning. She rested her human right hand on her hip, her inhuman eyes locked onto his. "Come to the outskirts of Lakehaven Heights. You'll remember where." the Lord of Calamity's voice rumbled amidst the heavens. Her eyes were emotionless and determined. "It's time to settle this."

The eyes of Sorey's family and followers turned to him as he stepped forward, lowering his sword while holding the hellion's gaze.

The words of the Four Elemental Empyreans recounting experiences with this being in past lives. The storied rumors of the Lord of Calamity – the woman who had manipulated and lied to him. Moments of levity and of trust with the friend he'd travelled with. The face of the woman who'd urged him through his hardest times – the face of the woman who had betrayed him this entire time. The strange words of a mysterious former Shepherd.

"Your job is to kill me, Shepherd."

Her own words rang quietly in his ears, steeling his expression.

Slowly, he nodded his head, deliberately sliding his sword back into the sheath at his side. "Got it." he replied evenly. "I'll be there, Velvet."

With that, the clawed hellion turned around and left without another word, her steel boots crunching on the dying grass underfoot. In her wake, the clashing domains slowly began to quell, her departure allowing for Zenrus's holy aura to retake the area fully once more.

A strange silence befell in the wake of the hellion's departure, the dull rumbling of the conflicting domains fading out in the background.

Zenrus quietly exhaled a plume of smoke as he lowered his pipe with his offhand, staring out to where the intruder in his domain had disappeared. He pursed his lips, tilting his head up towards the blue skies above in heavy contemplation.

"A time of reckoning..." the aged seraph muttered softly, watching two lone eagles soaring above the expanse of the shrine.

His jaw set. "...Hmph. So it would seem." he agreed darkly.

High up above, the pair of birds flapped their wings to gain altitude, soaring alongside the surging currents of the wind as they continued their journey towards the distant horizon.

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 22 – Judgement.

Lightning flashed through the pitch-black night and briefly outlined the city outside, followed by a fierce boom of thunder that rattled the stone floor of the room. The storm raged on beyond the darkened windows lining the walls, the patterned stained glass rattling noisily with the deluge of raindrops assaulting it. The repetitive sounds echoed endlessly amidst the empty atmosphere of the deserted library within.

Shadowed bookshelves stood solemnly amidst the vast, empty room, arrayed in rows down the length of the rectangular space, accompanied by hanging ladders and tucked-in stepstools that allowed for better access to the vast troves of knowledge cradled within. Carpets of luxurious red rested on cold stone underfoot, trailing between the bookshelves towards deserted reading spaces and empty reception desks standing vigil amidst the pattering rain. Darkness gripped the silent library in a bitter chokehold, subjecting the space to the company of nobody save the chaos of the brewing storm outside.

"BIEN! Why haven't you done anything?!"

The squealing shout bounced off the vaulted ceiling, rivaling the thunder outside in its intensity. His eyes wide in shock and horror, the hat-wearing normin called Bienfu hopped forward on the table while raising his paws incredulously into the air.

"If what you've said is true," he cried, "then Velvet, who's just recently returned, is going to go head-to-head with a full-powered Shepherd all by herself! That's pure craziness, even for her!" Outside, another rumble of thunder resounded across the night sky, shaking the foundations of the castle itself while punctuating the normin's statement.

The shirtless seraph he had addressed leaned back against the stone wall behind him, crossing his arms. "You haven't been following her like I've been, Bienfu." Zaveid replied, giving the normin a serious look. "Trust me, that Shepherd means more to her than just some ordinary tool for her to use in saving Maotelus. The same can be said for what the Shepherd thinks of her as a supposed Lord of Calamity."

"So it's fine if they duke it out?" Bienfu shot back incredulously. "No way! If there's anything I remember about Velvet, it's that she doesn't take half measures. Letting her settle things with a Shepherd is just asking for trouble!"

Zaveid's expression darkened. "I know."

He glanced away, staring past the table Bienfu was standing upon. Another flash of lightning occurred outside, briefly illuminating the vibrant colors of the books arrayed upon the shelves and of the red carpet layering the floors beyond.

"This is just something that those two need to sort out by themselves." The wind seraph's words were simple and blunt. "...If one of them dies, then they die."

Bienfu stared incredulously at him. "Wh-what?! You're so cold, Zaveid!" he yelled. "I thought you had more heart than this – don't you care for people you once knew?!"

Before Zaveid could respond, a different, feminine voice rang out above the pattering of rain on windows, drawing their attention.

"Clearly, he does."

The two seraphim turned to find another normin calmly pattering on the plush rug towards them, a hefty-looking tome almost the size of herself in her grasp. Grimoirh perfunctorily adjusted her glasses with her free paw as she came to a halt on the floor before the two of them.

"Grimoirh!" Bienfu greeted in surprise, tilting his head down at the newcomer. "I thought you said you were gonna look into Leo's research?"

The other normin let out a long-suffering sigh, giving the two a sharp look. "Well, the two of you were making sucha detestable racket," she grumbled, "there was simply no way for me to reasonably pursue my studies."

She sighed again, shaking her head as she nodded her head towards Zaveid. "Well, never mind that. As it stands, you ought to know how much thought Zaveid gives to his former acquaintances." The lenses of her small reading glasses reflected the light of the single burning candle up on the reading table as she adjusted them again. "His attitude and actions regarding Eizen should speak clearly enough in that respect."

The wind seraph in question let out an amused hum, waving his hand in the air towards her. "Hey now, don't start getting any funny ideas, lady." he drawled. "That sorta talk defeats this whole aura of manliness that I've got going on, you know?"

"...Oh?" Grimoirh's expression was cast in metal. "Then perhaps you should act more like a properman and show a lady such as myself proper respect." she replied smoothly, each syllable dripping with clear contempt. "You'll regret it otherwise."

Zaveid gulped. "G-geez." He hunched his shoulder slightly as he averted his gaze away from the piercing eyes of the much smaller seraph. "Nice to see you too."

Meanwhile, Bienfu hung his head and sighed as he sat down on the table with a dejected plop. "Then that means we just have to sit around twiddling our thumbs, hoping things work out?" he mumbled helplessly. "I don't like this... it gives me bad feelings all over."

Grimoirh's gaze turned to him. "That woman, as I recall, was one with obstinacy and stubbornness beyond what I could have possibly imagined." she recalled succinctly, shifting her grip on the oversized book in her paws. "Simply put, if she has remained who I remember her as, then Zaveid may well be correct in saying that this is the only chance that she has left."

Bienfu tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Only chance?" he parroted.

She nodded in confirmation, her wrinkled hat bobbing with the movement. "A thousand years may have passed, yet it would seem that Velvet Crowe has yet to conquer her greatest weakness." The female normin glanced off to the side, humming in thought amidst the constant pattering of rain.

"...Some things in life just can't be helped, Bienfu." Grimoirh eventually said, glancing at her fellow normin. The fickle flame of the candle simmered gently in the reflection of her glasses. "You should know that better than most." she reminded quietly.

A flash of sorrow surfaced in Bienfu's gaze.

"Bien." he mumbled, closing his eyes in defeat as he let his head hang. Outside, another clap of thunder boomed, the sound rocking the surrounding stones of the library and echoing off the vaulted ceiling above.

After a pause, he shook his head dully with a dejected sigh. "...You're right as always, Grimoirh." the normin agreed dejectedly.

She let out a huff of amusement. "Of course I am." With that, she turned away from the two seraphim with her book in hand while letting out another lengthy sigh. "Oh, how things never change..." Dismissing the thought, she shook her head and set off into the darkened abyss of the library, leaving the two behind in the corner.

In the wake of her departure, Bienfu shook his head tiredly, absently tapping his two paws together in front of him. "Miss Magilou..." he whispered softly, the infinitely familiar words old and stale on his lips.

He sighed quietly amidst the renewed silence, slumping further in his seat on the table. "I really have to wonder what Velvet is thinking..." he pondered aloud, listening to the sound of the storm outside. "It must be hard for her, coming back to a world where everything she remembered is gone."

Still leaning against the cold stone wall, Zaveid raised his head and pointed his gaze in the direction of the darkened windows of the library, watching the droplets of water stream down the red and white panes of stained glass. A flash of lightning lit up his expression, staring out into the darkened distance as if he could see beyond the pall of night.

"...Reckoning, huh?" he mumbled to himself. After a pause, a humorless smile broke out on his face as he shook his head, dismissing the thought.

With that, he pushed himself daintily off the wall, raising his bare arms up into the air while letting out a loud and obnoxious groan. "Ah... Hey." The wind seraph gave the normin a cheeky grin. "I've got a mind to pay Leo a visit for some cards. Wanna join?"

Bienfu gave him a sour look. "Is now really the time for that?" he grumbled.

"Awe, don't be such a killjoy, Bienfu." Zaveid grinned, giving the hatted normin a playful nudge that sent him stumbling forward in panic. "It's dark and scary out there." he complained. "What could possibly be a better time to curl up next to the fire and play a little strip poker with just us men?"

Having caught his footing, the normin's eyes widened as much as they could as he whirled around in astonishment. "S-strip poker, bien?!" he yelped. "B-but I'm normin, and you're hardly wearing anything!"

The shirtless seraph's leer was predatory as he leant forward. "That just makes things more interesting." he purred. "Besides," he added, raising his index finger to tease the lip of Bienfu's hat up a few inches. "You're wearing a hat. That counts, doesn't it?"

Bienfu slammed both paws upon his top hat in horror. "No, no, NO! Absolutely NOT, BIEN!" he squealed, leaping off the table in a panicked retreat.

The wind seraph chuckled indulgently, shrugging in the wake of the normin's departure. "Fine, fine." he drawled as he followed, casually extinguishing the lone burning candle behind him with a wisp of wind.

The pouring rain beyond the now-darkened windows of the library intensified, accompanied by a screeching wind that assaulted the banners of the Rolance Royal Army hanging off the castle walls outside. Thrums of thunder coursed through the land as the storm raged on, wreaking havoc upon the sprawling city of Pendrago amidst the all-encompassing darkness.

---​

A cold breeze slipped between branches and leaves overhead, causing spots of washed-out moonlight to dance in fickle patterns upon the overgrown soil below. Insects dwelling amidst the foliage on the forest floor chirped repetitively among themselves, carrying out foreign conversations amidst the cover of night. An owl hooted repetitively into the cold air, its calls echoing off the trunks of the trees and resounding hauntingly throughout the stagnant forest.

It was quiet.

The footfalls of the intruders rang out as they approached, stepping over roots and ducking under branches as they followed the overgrown path between the shadowed trees. In the distance, past the cluttered foliage, the shimmering lights of the capital city could be seen; a floating beacon amidst a void of dark waters. High up above, the full moon blinked at them from its perch amidst the starry sky, watching the Shepherd's group through sporadic gaps in the canopy as they traversed the winding trail in silence. Somewhere in the distance, a lone wolf began to howl.

She awaited them in the clearing that once cradled a meadow of white-petaled flowers.

Uncovered raven hair spilled plainly down from her shoulders alongside her tattered black jacket, shrouding her as a menacing silhouette standing at the center of the barren clearing amidst the azure moonlight. The polished metal of her gauntlet blade housing on her right wrist glinted as she crossed her arms, her amber eyes hard and cold as she watched them emerge from the forest.

Sorey held her gaze as he came to a halt upon the barren ground of the clearing, his right hand resting firmly upon the pommel of the brown ceremonial sword hanging off the side of his belt. Behind him, the cloak woven with the regal marks of the Shepherd rippled slowly as it trailed his movements, complementing his boyish appearance with heroic patterns of white and blue.

Their breath misted in the cold air before them, being wafted away by the chilly breeze disturbing the leaves of the oak trees towering over the clearing as they faced each other amidst the silence. High up above, the full moon continued to shine – a lone, silent spectator to a fated encounter.

Dirt crunched loudly as Mikleo took a firm step forward, his expression hard and determined as he faced the hellion down. "The game's up, Velvet." he declared solemnly, his voice resounding throughout the clearing. "You've been manipulating Sorey ever since we first met, feeding us lies and half-truths from here all the way to Rolance." His eyes narrowed. "You betrayed him, without a thought to how much you would hurt him – without a care in the world as to how much he trusted you as an ally! A friend!"

Mikleo's staff appeared in a flash of water mana as he grasped it in his two hands, readying his stance for battle, a fierce expression on his face. "Enough is enough!" he yelled. "Sorey isn't a tool! I'm tired of watching my friend suffer at the whims of a manipulative hellion such as yourself!" His grip on his staff tightened in pure frustration as he glared at the emotionless monster standing across the clearing. "This has to end, right here, right now!"

The Shepherd himself glanced to the side towards his childhood friend in the wake of his outburst. "Mikleo..." he breathed.

On the other side of the barren clearing, Velvet's arms fell to her side as she uncrossed them. "I agree." she said matter-of-factly. "It's time." She tugged at the straps of her gauntlet blade housing on her right wrist. "Time to decide whether this Shepherd of yours lives or dies." Her gaze was unyielding and cold.

Rose narrowed her eyes, resting a hand on her hip, the green ornaments dangling off her outfit waving amidst the soft breeze circling the clearing. "Felice fessed up about everything between the two of you." She frowned, studying the hellion with furrowed brows. "And from what she told me, it's clear that you're not a saint, but you're not exactly evil either. I've known Felice for a long time; I trust her judgement."

Metal squealed on metal as the assassin's daggers flashed into the night, held at a low ready as Rose fell into a fighting stance, a determined fire in her eyes. "Regardless, this guy's the best thing this world has got going for it at the moment. Besides, he's a pal of mine." She jerked her head towards Sorey with a casual smirk on her face. "So when it comes down to it, if you're threatening Sorey, then that's more than enough reason for me to take you down." She flashed Velvet a confident, businesslike grin. "That's a promise from a member of the Scattered Bones!"

At her side, Alisha held her hands together, distraught. "...I still can hardly believe it." she admitted softly, sadly examining Velvet's callous demeanor. "Even after everything that everyone's told me – even after hearing the words for your own mouth... I fail to believe that the Velvet that I had come to known alongside Sorey last month was a complete falsity."

Ruined soil crunched underfoot as she transitioned into a combat stance, drawing her lance as she held the foreign hellion's gaze. "...But if you are so determined to threaten Sorey's life, then I have no choice but to take up arms against you." she finished grimly, tightening her gauntleted two-handed grip upon her weapon. "Such is my duty, as Squire, and as a Princess of the people, and a friend of Sorey."

"Velvet, please!" Lailah called, stepping forward urgently. "Whatever your intentions, I ask that you please reconsider this course of action!" The prime lord shook her head, conviction in her eyes as she faced the strange hellion. "I now see why he spoke of you the way he did, all that time ago. You've opened my eyes to even more truths of the world, even after all the time that I've spent alive." A flame burned in her imploring gaze. "There must be another way for us to avoid this conflict and to reach an agreement! Our end goals are similar, after all!"

A strong wind picked up in the aftermath of the seraph's words, throwing the surrounding trees into disarray and filling the silence that followed with rustling foliage and groaning branches. Velvet's cascading hair waved to the side amidst the winds behind her as she shook her head slowly, refusing Lailah's words. "No. This has to be done." she returned resolutely.

Her hardened gaze flitted over all of the people standing before her. She crossed her arms, pursing her lips.

"Heldalf is holding Maotelus captive." she announced plainly.

A shocked silence followed in the wake of her statement, broken only by the sounds of the breeze slowly losing strength amidst the cold of night. Lailah looked away, closing her eyes quietly.

Sorey's eyebrows had furrowed in deep thought as he ruminated over the hellion's words and their implications. "Heldalf and Maotelus are connected?" he mumbled quietly. He narrowed his eyes in confusion at Velvet. "But... how can a hellion control the strongest of the Five Lords?"

His eyes abruptly widened. "...Wait! You don't mean...?!"

Velvet shifted her body weight to the side as she evenly returned his disbelieving gaze. "Why do you think I went through all this trouble?" she scoffed. "If I had been able to, I would have torn out the throat of Heldalf the first chance I got." She lowered her eyes, holding her bandaged arm out in front of her and clenched her fingers together in a tight fist.

Shadows encompassed her expression, obscuring the cold fury in her eyes. "...But nothing less than a Shepherd of the upmost strength and power could have a chance at severing the link between Heldalf and a corrupted Maotelus. A chance at purifying an Empyrean overrun with malevolence. And that is what I need." Her lips were drawn in a thin, determined line. "To that end, I'm not afraid of doing what needs to be done. I will do what I judge best to achieve my goal. No matter the cost."

Standing by Rose's side, Dezel's lips were drawn into a frown as he stood as still as a statue, silently listening to the woman's words. "...No matter the cost, huh?" he muttered.

Velvet's expression lost its edge for a brief moment as she glanced to the side, finding the earth seraph standing quietly at the edge of the group. "...Edna." she addressed softly. "Don't hold back." She tilted her head to the side, a sardonic, self-deprecating smile flitting on her expression. "No regrets, right?"

Edna's lips pursed in utter frustration in the face of Velvet's stubborn determination. She let out a sigh of resignation, lowering her opened umbrella to hide her face from view as she too fell into a fighting stance. "...Idiot." she muttered.

Finally, the former Lord of Calamity's gaze fell upon Sorey himself. "...Shepherd." she addressed directly, her breath misting into the cold air. "Prove to me that you are strong enough to take down the Lord of Calamity, and to save Maotelus." She drew her right foot back, smoothly falling into a fighting stance while holding Sorey's eyes. Her amber eyes were hard with indomitable will. "This time, I won't be holding anything back."

Sorey nodded slowly, himself wrapping his fingers around the pommel of his sword. "I understand." he replied. The metal of his decorated blade screeched as he deliberately drew it from its sheath, holding the weapon at a low ready by his side. "I won't either." he promised solemnly.

"All of you." Velvet's voice addressed the rest of the group. "The same things goes. Fight me with everything you have." An unnatural, dark pall began to overtake the moonlight clearing, sending shivers down their spines. A sudden gust of wind whistled as it picked up speed, whirling around the area at volatile, shuddering speeds that sent the nearby foliage into a rattling frenzy. Malevolence began to seep out from the very earth itself, rising like a putrid mist into the air to be caught by the vortex of winds swirling around the lone hellion. "If you fail..."

She jerked her head up, her blood-red eyes pulsing with fury as she wrenched her left arm high into the air. "I'll devour you and doom this world to centuries more of darkness!"

Her enormous, grotesque claw erupted out from her left arm as she released the full extent of her domain without a hint of restraint. An enormous shockwave of wind exploded outward from her being as if spurred on by a hurricane, accompanied but an overwhelming wave of purple miasma that engulfed the world in a suffocating embrace of sin. Bolts of violet-red lightning surged through the unnatural storm, accenting the chaos with blinding flashes that drew stark shadows upon the trembling earth below.

His jaw stiffening amidst the chaos of his former friend's unrestrained domain, Sorey set his jaw and stepped forward, steeled determination in his stance. "Let's go, guys!" he yelled out into the storm, driving his friends and allies into action. Together, the Shepherd's group charged headfirst into the malevolent chaos, rising to the challenge as one.

CLANG!

The wickedly sharp steel of her gauntlet blade slammed against the metal of his ceremonial blade, sending brief sparks flying into the darkened hell surrounding them. Almost instantly, the hellion then slammed her right hand on the dirt and swung her left leg up into the air, deflecting the princess's lance with her hidden boot blade. The sound of squealing metal was followed by an unhinged battle cry as the monster twisted her body around, engulfing the world before her with her enormous claw. Trailing energy drew bright-red claw marks in the malevolent air as the unstoppable appendage forced Rose to leap backwards to avoid being devoured.

The screaming wind continued in the background as Velvet abruptly jerked her body into a backflip, a few strands of raven hair being cut off by Sorey's blade as he slashed in the air where she'd been standing. Still falling in midair, the hellion twisted around and lashed out towards the Shepherd with a vicious kick. Metal sparks flew once more as her steel boot smashed against his hasty guard, briefly illuminating the world before it plunged once more into darkness.

The howling wind roared amidst the surroundings as Velvet touched back down onto the ground, only to fall into a leap to dodge Rose's singing blades. Her blood-red eyes pulsed visibly as she abruptly lashed out with her hellionized arm into the open air.

The arte that Dezel had shot towards her slammed into the palm of her moving claw and was completely redirected as she spun around, releasing the seraph's arte towards his allies. The projectile of wind mana was propelled towards Rose, accompanied by a fierce whistle.

The assassin leapt away from the explosion of wind mana with a graceful backflip, slipping through the blades of wind as if it were second nature. The moment she landed however; she was confronted by an enormous claw of blood red.

CRASH!

Velvet was forced to abandon her charge and leap to the side as a fierce explosion of fire mana erupted between her and her quarry, the shockwave rattling the earth below with power. Preserving her momentum, she kicked off the ground and lashed her sword arm to the side, extending her blade to collide against Sorey's. Her expression was one of pure fury and determination as she whirled around in the aftermath of the exchange, slashing at Sorey with her left arm.

Her claw deflected off the Shepherd's quickly erected mana guard just as the earth beneath her feet cracked violently with surging amber mana. The hellion rode the momentum of the deflection and cartwheeled to the side right as Edna's arte fully materialized, causing the chunk of earth she'd been standing on to violently jut up into the whirling air. A myriad of dirt and debris from the nearby arte showered down upon her as she kicked forward, slamming her blade into Alisha's lance and driving her stumbling backwards.

Velvet's eyes narrowed harshly as she forced herself inside the princess's spear reach, only to sheathe her gauntlet blade and grab Alisha's collar with a deathly firm grip, wrenching the wide-eyed young woman towards her.

"Is that it?!" she snarled derisively, the howling winds engulfing their surroundings and cutting them off from the others. "Is this all the 'princess of the people' is willing to do to save her subjects? Don't make me laugh!" With that, she jerked her arm and sent the princess flying with inhuman strength, just in time to whirl around and redirect Mikleo's arte with her claw, causing it to slam into the ground beside her.

BOOM!

Harmless droplets of water from the nearby detonation rained down upon Velvet as the furious woman turned to glare down at Alisha, lying stunned on the ground. "If you can't stomach what needs to be done, then leave." she growled harshly. "You're nothing but a nuisance otherwise."

Having said that, the hellion whirled around and lashed outward, driving her sword through the air to intercept Sorey's charge. Metal grated on metal; this time accompanied by a roar of surging mana as the Shepherd brought his free hand back in preparation for an arte. She jerked her hellion claw moments before the explosion occurred, at the same time bringing her other arm up to meet Rose's blades as the assassin attempted to capitalize upon Sorey's distraction.

The Shepherd's arte detonated harmlessly against the pulsating surface of the claw while her gauntlet blade expertly met the two blades of the assassin. Without a moment's hesitation, Velvet then abruptly disengaged on both fronts and leapt into the stormy air, avoiding an enormous beam of water mana surging through the air through which she'd just been.

Alisha, her body wreathed in the angelic colors of armatization, drew her arm back once more with a set jaw as she angled her bow up towards the speck of black and red that was her quarry. She gritted her teeth, narrowing her glowing yellow eyes in ferocious determination as she released a barrage of projectiles high in the air.

Winds screamed in Velvet's ears as she arced through the corrupted night sky, her raven hair and dark black jacket whipping uncontrollably behind her in the hellish gales amidst the unnatural storm of her own domain. Her scarlet-hued, inhuman eyes zeroed in on the princess in the clearing below; a beacon amidst the chaos in a flowing dress of white and blue unleashing blades of water to hurtle towards her. Her lips formed into a brief, satisfied smirk at the sight before she corkscrewed around, bringing her claw around to bear.

Amidst the flashes of bloody lightning, the hellion crashed down from the heavens while slashing her claw, deflecting choice beams of water amidst the barrage during her descent. As she angled her body towards Alisha and the seraphim standing beside her, her pupils dilated violently moments before impact.

"BREAK BOOST!" she screamed, tearing her claw over her shoulder and down onto the soil below.

CRASH!

Mana surging through her body and into the ground as she slammed her claw into the earth, instantly creating spiderwebbing, glowing cracks in the earth that spread out underneath the feet of the seraphim and Alisha. Alarm formed in their eyes a split second before enormous plumes of flames exploded outward from the cracks, accompanied by a wild, violent tremor that rattled the forest for miles around. Blinding orange light from the detonation washed over the clearing, putting Velvet's jacketed form in stark, villainous lighting as she stood back up from her kneeling position, a grim expression on her face.

"BINDING VORTEX!"

A vibrant bolt of azure mana suddenly cleared the flames of the fading arte and shot towards Velvet, forcing the woman to jerk her claw up and deflect it off to the side. The water pierced the soil where it landed, digging an enormous rut into the earth in its wake with a powerful thrum of power.

In its wake, Velvet watched, her stance steeled and ready, as Alisha stepped forward through the smoldering dirt, her eyes burning with resolution and the power of the armatus. Around her, the shield of water mana faded fully from existence, dripping loose droplets of water upon the charred dirt underfoot as she drew her bow once more.

Velvet glanced to the side, her jaw stiffening as she found Rose clad in the clothes of the fire armatus stepping towards her as well from behind, an enormous longsword in hand. In the corner of her eye, she spotted a speck of holy white soaring through the blackened sky; an angel of the judgement with wings of neon green.

"That's better." The lone hellion growled, her enormous claw curling into a fist by her side as she returned her gaze to Alisha's determined expression. "Now, come at me with everything you've got!" she demanded, her claw turning into a gaping maw as she tore forward.

BANG!

An enormous explosion resounded across the forest as a bolt of neon green crashed down to earth, cast by the airborne Shepherd circling the area in defense of his Squire. In the wake of his arte, Alisha narrowed her eyes coldly as she watched a blur of red and black vanishing between the limbs of the trees and into the chaos of her domain.

"Rose, Lailah!" she called, lowering her bow and breaking into a run. "She's on the move!"

"Acknowledged!" "Got it!" the two voices replied simultaneously as Rose charged forward and after the hellion, fueled by the power of the fire armatus. Flames trailed after her steps as her enormous longsword skidded the length of the dirt behind her.

High up above, Sorey's gaze was sharp and attentive as he circled the area like a bird of prey, wind mana readily at his fingertips. All around him, bolts of brilliant red lightning coursed through the storm of malevolence, engulfing him in volatile miasma as he searched for a speck of red amidst the sea of leaves below with glowing yellow eyes.

The world beneath the canopy was a surging hellscape of violently shuddering trees and foliage, utterly devoid of any sources of light save the flashes of red lightning blinking through the patches in the leaves above. Alisha and Rose charged in between the darkened tree trunks, leaping over roots and clearing low-hanging branches in their pursuit of Velvet. Darkness engulfed everything, rendering all else but their quarry to be of importance.

Suddenly, the two armatized squires came skidding to a halt at the water's edge.

Crickets chirped calmly amidst the soft sloshing of calm waters, accompanied by a gentle breeze that rustled the calming leaves of the trees behind them. The full moon shone clearly in the clear skies above, its celestial body reflecting off the tranquil waters of the lake before them amidst the starry night. Beyond the waters, the city of Ladylake sat in the distance, vibrantly lit with streetlights and bustling with activity, even in the darkest hour of the night.

Rose and Alisha cast about wildly, finding no sign of the hellion that they'd been chasing along the gentle shoreline of the lake. Up above, green wings left trails in the clear night sky as Sorey banked around, circling the area around the two squires in search for the hellion.

Suddenly, Rose's eyes widened. "The lake!" she yelled, spinning around in alarm.

SPLASH!

Like a monster suddenly appearing from the depths, Velvet shot out from the blackened waters of the lake and into the sky, rising up to block the full moon with her stark silhouette. Purple mana tinged with burning fire cackled as she drew her claw back in a wordless cry of fury, her dilated inhuman eyes pulsing with power. A brilliant red flare flashed outward into the night as flames surged in the hellion's palm, cackling with increasing intensity and coalescing into an orb of concentrated power.

Dirt crunched underfoot as Edna skidded to a halt beside the armatized Squires, urgently slamming her umbrella shut as she took in the sight of Velvet high up above. "Don't just stand there – run, idiots!" she yelled while herself vanishing back into her vessel in a flash of green.

Heeding the seraph's advice, both Alisha and Rose turned and sprinted for cover beneath the shelter of the leaves. High up above, Sorey forced himself into a dive for cover as the flaming orb in the airborne hellion's palm formed fully with a brilliant, foreboding shine.

Without a hint of restraint, Velvet tore through the air with her claw, leveraging her entire body in midair to slash downward upon the damned with a horrendous scream.

"CALAMITY FLARE!"

A flash of light as bright as the sun itself flashed momentarily throughout the land as a vicious beam of flame shot out from the orb in her palm, tearing through the night sky in the blink of an eye before crashing the forest below, instantly incinerating a large swathe of foliage and landscape in a deafening boom.

Her face contorted in fury and anger and her blood-red eyes surging with overwhelming power, the former Lord of Calamity spun around in the air, tearing her claw around towards where Sorey and his Squires had been. Following the movements of its caster, the column of flame caused by the arte tore from side to side, drawing an erratic trail of merciless destruction amidst the hapless trees and plants of the forest. Animals and insects awoke to hell incarnate as flames swept over the trees above, engulfing their world in flaming debris.

Silhouetted by the light of the moon, Velvet clenched her claw and cut off her arte moments before she landed upon the shoreline with a knee to the ground, subjecting the world to the grasp of a dreadful silence. Her coat and hair jerked to a halt alongside her body upon impact, wreathing her figure in a blanket of darkness as she slowly stood up, her pulsing claw hanging readily by her side.

A subtle but ominous orange halo hung in the night sky above, accompanied by the quiet cackling of flames as the desecrated patch of woods continued to burn in the wake of the chaos. Charred twigs snapped gratuitously underneath her steel boots as she stepped through the smoldering ruins, her alert, demonic eyes reflecting the flames still consuming the patches of untouched foliage before her. Burning embers danced amidst the air above, raining like snow towards the blackened soil below.

All else was deathly silent amidst the smoldering hellscape.

Suddenly, a flurry of activity from the side drew her sharp attention. She was met with the sight of the Shepherd emerging from the shredded tree trunks and lunging towards her, clad in garb of flowing blue and angelic white. His golden eyes were narrowed with pure focus as he reared back with the enormous bow in his right hand – one nocked with a viciously serrated spear.

"AQUA LIMIT!" Sorey and Mikleo roared simultaneously, catapulting themselves forward with a blast of mana. A high-pitched screech resounded outward as the blade on the bow sliced through the air, thrust forward by the armatized Shepherd as he neared his target.

Soot and dirt crackled under Velvet's steel boots as she reacted instantly, bending her knees and redirecting her center of gravity in order to impale the jagged fingers of her claw deep into the ground. Violet energy crackled loudly as she took a step forward, drawing mana through her arm to tear her claw out of the soil.

"HEAVEN'S CLAW!" she replied, tearing her claw up and into the air to intercept the Shepherd's mystic arte.

Claw and blade smashed against each other in a blinding explosion of red and blue.

BOOM!

Two figures were cast bodily away from the center of the detonation in opposite directions, tumbling over themselves before managing to arrest their momentum upon the crackling foliage underneath.

Still clad in the azure clothes of the armatus, Sorey grunted as he pushed himself up on a knee, green light shimmering subtly in his opposite hand as he healed the wound in his abdomen. At the same time, Velvet callously swiped a trickle of blood from her brow as she stood back up, preparing to lunge towards the healing Shepherd.

"Not so fast!" Alisha's defiant voice rang through the air.

A network of glowing amber cracks suddenly spiderwebbed out directly underneath the hellion's boots, forcing her to abandon her charge. Rocks and chunks of charred grass were tossed high into the smoldering night sky as an enormous chunk of earth thrust powerfully into the air where she'd been standing, barely managing to graze her jacket as she propelled herself out of harm's reach with the help of her claw.

The world continued to whirl around her as she twisted again through the air, this time tucking in her legs before kicking off the trunk of a burnt tree to avoid the rapidly boiling patch of land below. The darkness of night was interrupted by a blinding flare as the subsequent pillar of flame erupted outwards from the land, casting Velvet's shadow in front of her as she dodged the flames incinerating the tree behind her.

The hellion touched down upon the ground, instantly zeroing in on the two Squires emerging from the tree line upon the wooded hill overlooking the area, now wielding the earth and fire armatuses. Before they could continue bombarding her with artes, she allowed mana to course through her body and exploded into motion, lunging up the sloped grass at a terrifying velocity towards their vantage point.

Both Rose and Alisha were hard-pressed to leap out of the way as her grotesque claw tore through the air in which they'd been standing, trailing brilliant blood-red streaks in its wake. Before they could retaliate, the hellion followed through with her previous momentum and spun around, bringing the appendage up and over her shoulder with a feral scream.

"DISCORD!"

Enormous claw marks were gouged into the soil as the hellion rampaged, tearing at the Squires with utter abandon in an attempt to rend their flesh with her corrupted arm. The sloped earth shuddered violently with each crashing impact; trees fell down the hill with thunderous booms as the fangs of the destructive monster's claw tore through their trunks like paper. Amidst the chaos, both squires were forced to give ground, sprinting for cover up the forested slope.

Amidst the cover of the trees, Rose abruptly spun around and leapt to the side, dodging another rolling claw mark by a hair as she wrenched her enormous longsword above her head. "Eat this!" she yelled fiercely, her angelic blood-white clothing flapping amidst the swirling mana gathering at her command.

"PURGATORY OF FLAME!"

An enormous wave of boiling flame erupted out from the grass before the assassin, billowing out into the cold air towards the hellion in retaliation. Reacting instantly to the threat, Velvet used the claw already embedded in the dirt beneath her to catapult herself into the air, heat that would have been overwhelming had she been human washing over her in the process. Her gauntlet blade sang as she extended it in midair, jerking it towards the woman standing amidst the trees with a burst of mana.

The shot of heated flames forced Rose to pivot her arms, using her longsword to deflect the attack off to the side. At that same moment, Velvet slammed into the ground and swept her right foot in a single fluid motion, aiming her steel boot towards her opponent's legs standing upon the grass.

Reflexive instincts kicked in and forced the assassin to dive away in a dodge that inadvertently sent her out of the tree line and out into the open air. Surprised, Rose regained her footing and glanced over her shoulder with wide eyes, finding naught but a stretch of barren earth followed by a steep fall into the night.

The darkened expanse of the Lakehaven Heights laid sprawled out beyond the edge of the cliff, dimly lit by the full moon hovering just above the distant horizon beyond the darkened waters. The forest still smoldered down at the edge of the lake, patches of orange flame sending varied columns of black smoke up into the air to be captured by the winds. The glistening lights of the Hyland capital perched atop the lake were the only other sources of light amidst the endless expanse of wilderness beyond.

A flicker of movement drew her attention upward, towards the sight of a lone star of green arcing towards her amidst the darkness of the starry sky. Dirt crunched loudly at Sorey joined her atop the cliff, the wings of the wind armatus wreathing his form and halting his momentum as he slid to a stop beside her.

The two shared a wordless, determined nod before they faced the tree line as one, readying their armatized bodies for combat amidst the cold, bitter breeze. A dull boom drew their attention as more artes imploded nearby, rattling the ground underfoot and dislodging plumes of dirt from the side of the cliff face below. A flash of green resounded as Mikleo appeared at their side, gripping his staff in a ready stance with the light of the full moon at his back. He glanced at the two humans and nodded.

"I let Alisha know about the plan." he explained quickly. "She should be driving her here now."

Rose readjusted her grip on the longsword in her hands, catching her breath. "Y'know," she exhaled, wiping the sweat from off her brow, "that lady has got some serious issues."

"To think," Lailah's disembodied voice pondered soberly, "that we had been travelling alongside such a being all this time... I had known of the strength of Velvet's domain, yet even so, I could not have possibly fathomed her to possess such immense power."

"It looks like she wasn't called a Lord of Calamity for nothing." Sorey observed grimly as he was engulfed in a plume of white light, dispelling the wind armatus from his body. "It'll take all of our might to take her down." His now green eyes were hardened with determination. He glanced off to the side. "...Dezel." he addressed the seraph that had appeared beside him. "Are you tired at all?"

"Speak for yourself." came the irritated retort as the hatted seraph crossed his arms. "Taking on an opponent this strong is a once in a lifetime opportunity." A pause followed. "...You'd better not let her win, Shepherd." he growled lowly. "Not when I'm so close to my vengeance."

"Don't worry." Sorey replied, returning his gaze to the darkened forest before them. "I don't intend to."

CRASH!

Her heels grinding into the dirt underfoot, Alisha burst out from beyond the trees and into the open air, the white and amber dress of the earth armatus flitting behind her as she came skidding to a halt before them. Sweat marred with dirt and debris dripped down her skin as she stepped forward, rolling her shoulders and by proxy the stones of the armatus hovering at her sides.

"She's approaching." she announced, falling into line alongside them. "Ready yourselves!"

Together, the reunited group faced down the darkened forest before them atop the empty land of the cliff. At their backs, the distorted full moon hovered just above the distant horizon, silhouetting their features and casting soft shadows atop the cracked dirt before them amidst the cold of night.

The clanking of steel boots cut through the silence with foreboding clarity.

Slowly, their eyes deciphered an approaching figure through the shadows of the forest before them; A humanoid figure with red eyes and an enormous claw hanging limply at its side. Blood marring her skin stood out starkly amidst the moonlight as she strolled out from underneath the darkness, utterly unconcerned by the handful of wounds dotting her body.

At an unspoken signal, the Shepherd's group burst into action, initiating their ambush against the approaching hellion. Rose and Alisha, still armatized with the powers of Lailah and Edna, lunged forward, raising their respective weapons high in the air. Dezel and Mikleo took a synchronized step back and fell into casting stances, their hair and clothes rippling amidst the vast quantities of mana gathering at their fingertips. Sorey himself ripped his sword once more out of its sheath as he charged forward, gathering an orb of ice mana in his offhand in preparation for a follow-up arte.

An enormous gout of flame exploded out from Rose's blade as she performed overhead swing, propelling a crescent of fire mana towards the stationary hellion with a determined yell. A rapid succession of jagged stalagmites burst out violently at Alisha's will, instantly surging towards the woman with earth-shaking intensity. Behind them all, Mikleo and Dezel stepped forward as one as they finalized their artes, calling forth a torrent of wind and water to tear from the heavens down towards their target.

"If you think this is hell..."

Sorey skidded to a stop, his eyes widening in alarm as he felt the power surge in the air.

Velvet's head snapped up, her eyes dilating violently. "I'm just getting started!"

BOOM!

With a frightening burst of power, the woman shot forward at inhuman speeds, lunging across the plateau the blink of an eye with all the restraint of a wounded beast. Wind, fire, earth, and water detonated behind her in an almighty explosion that rippled through the air and rattled the ground underfoot, emitting a flare of light that blotted out the moon entirely. Paying the artes no mind, Velvet tore her claw towards Rose who barely had enough time to raise her longsword.

"I'll drag you down..." Blood-red energy tainted with violet malevolence flashed in jagged trails through the air as Velvet's gauntlet blade and claw unleashed an animalistic flurry of blows that ripped into the Squire's guard, causing ear-piercing shrieks of tearing metal to resound into the air. The fourth strike ripped the sword clean from Rose's hands, giving her barely enough time to blink in shock before her armatized body was tossed clean to the side by the next swipe of the monster's claw.

"...and grind you into earth!" Spinning around without a moment's hesitation, Velvet kicked out a foot and shot upwards into the air, her coat flaring ominously as she reached the apex high above the Shepherd's group. An orb of violet energy formed in the palm of her enormous claw with a dull thrum of energy as she spun around, raising it over her shoulder with an animalistic snarl.

"IMPLUSE DESIRE!"

CRASH!

Blinding neon energy exploded out from enormous cracks in the with a deafening screech of power, sending an enormous shockwave rattling through the foundations of the hill underfoot. Nearby trees were uprooted entirely and sent toppling over while massive boulders became dislodged from the cliff underneath to topple down towards the forest below with thunderous booms. The entire cliffside became engulfed as additional cracks spiderwebbed outward from the point of impact, unleashing surges of green and blue energy that completely enveloped the Shepherd's group and tossed them into the air like dolls.

Slowly, the power surging through the earth began to fade, allowing the tremors rocking the cliff to subside, the blinding unnatural light of power to dissipate, and for the world to return to a semblance of normality. In the silence that followed, the heavy, labored breathing of a woman became evident.

Velvet wiped the blood seeping from her brow once more as she stood back up, swaying briefly on her feet before hardening her stance with the aid of her claw. Despite her efforts, the open wound in her scalp continued to seep out blood, irritating her eye while dripping down to her chin as she surveyed the results of her handiwork. The smelled of charred earth lingered in the air, propelled by the soft breeze blowing over the ruined landscape atop the cliff overlooking the darkened land. The forms of the seraphim and humans were scattered vaguely about the area, all lying motionlessly upon the ground in the darkness.

There was one, however, still standing amidst the ruins.

Sorey grunted tiredly as he pushed himself to his feet, pulling his sword from the dirt as the nearly transparent shield of mana surrounding his body faded with a weak warble of energy. Sweat dripped down his brow in liberal amounts, accompanied by a myriad of scratches and bruises that also covered the rest of his body.

Despite it all, he met Velvet's gaze with defiance in his eyes, readjusting the grip on his sword and falling into a combat stance as he faced the powerful hellion alone before the edge of the cliff. Behind him, the cloak of the Shepherd, its decorated holy white surface marred with dirt and grime, rippled amidst the gentle wind.

A grim, satisfied smirk flashed briefly on Velvet's face.

The world around them slowly began to brighten as hints of a new dawn arose in the surrounding skies. Crickets halted their songs while owls returned to their slumber as the world began its transition from darkness to light, leaving behind nothing but a deathly silence in the interim. Desecrated earth crunched deafeningly amidst the quiet as the hellion stepped slowly towards her quarry, the chains on her outfit clinking softly in the breeze. Sorey responded in kind, moving his aching limbs forward as he held his sword at a low ready at his side, his cloak trailing behind him.

A moment of silence passed.

And then the two opposing entities sprang into motion like clockwork, charging at each other underneath the curtain of fading stars.

His blade met hers in a brief flash of sparks for a split second before they disengaged, simultaneously whirling around to deliver matching blows on the opposite side. He hopped into the air moments before her leg swept underneath, simultaneously sweeping his blade forward only to meet hers as she blocked with her own.

She twisted her wrist to force his blade away, allowing her to lash out with her foot towards his chest, only to run into resistance as the hidden blade in her boot slid off his blade held at a precise angle. Her claw wrenched around, tearing through the air which he'd just been as he rolled down and to the side, where he recovered just in time to deflect her follow-up stab to the side.

A flash of blue mana threw his features in stark lighting as he spun around, bringing his free hand in to detonate an arte at point-blank range, but to no avail as she brought her claw up to guard the small explosion. In retaliation, she pulled her claw back and tore it over her shoulder, crashing it down upon the ground which he'd been standing on. Having dodged to the side, Sorey kicked off the dirt while still in midair and stabbed forward towards the vulnerable hellion, only to be met with no resistance as she leveraged her weight against her claw and propelled herself up into the air, away from the Shepherd.

With some space between the two, the fighters then paused briefly for breath, exhaustion clear in both of their stances. Watching over the battle, the full moon slowly faded as waves of light gently encroached upon the eastern horizon, eating away at the darkness of night. The vast world beyond the edge of the cliff was slowly revealed underneath the brightening skies with the forms of sprawling forests, rolling hills, and flowing rivers gratuitously taking shape.

Her bloodied features illuminated by the slowly brightening world, the Lord of Calamity put a lone hand on her hip, facing down the Shepherd atop the cliff's edge.

"...To think a pathetic idiot like you could hold so much power."

She tilted her head mockingly to the side, casually waving her human hand in the air. "But then again," she supposed conversationally, her features twisting into a derisive smirk, "I suppose if you picked just about anyone and handed them all they needed on a silver platter, they'd do just fine."

She leered openly at him, her grin callous and hateful. "So, what do you know about how the world really works, 'Shepherd Sorey?' Or does the savior of the world need to read some more books to find out first?" she asked mockingly. "Does he need to dig into some dusty ruins to try and find an answer as humanity wastes away outside? Or does he need his friends to tell him all he wants to know before he starts thinking for himself?"

The hellion shook her head in wry amusement, her cascading hair swaying from side to side. "How laughably stupid you were when I first met you. To think you wouldn't notice all the obvious signs, instead content to be a blind fool as a monster led you by the nose every step of the way, molding you like clay." she drawled. "Some 'savior of the world,' huh? Makes sense for some idiot who was raised far away from the society he's apparently supposed to protect."

"Velvet..." Sorey muttered lowly through gritted teeth, his iron grip tightening fiercely around the pommel of his sword. "Stop."

Her indulgent smirk grew deeper. "I devour innocent fools like you for breakfast." she sneered. "You ought to just lay down your sword and let me take that burden off your shoulders." Her claw clenched with a loud crunch as she squeezed it into a fist. "It'll be just a moment of pain and then nothing." she said reasonably. "A fitting end for a weakling like yourself – dying at the hands of a monster like me." She smiled darkly. "I'll also eat your precious friends that you rely on so much, if you'd like – it'll depend on if I'm still hungry afterwards."

"Sorey!" Lailah's piercing call rang out as the tired fire seraph slowly pushed herself up by her arms, her eyes wide and alarmed. "She's trying to corrupt you!" she cried. "You mustn't allow-!"

The prime lord was interrupted as a fierce wave of energy suddenly thrummed through the ground, surging through the land to gather at the Shepherd's feet in a dull green glow. High up above, an unnatural vortex of howling winds converged from out of nowhere, joining into a swirling mass of charged energy hovering above his form. Energy crackled loudly and ominously amidst the brightening night, surging and writhing intangibly in the air with hair-raising intensity.

Slowly, Sorey's gaze rose and locked onto Velvet's derisive expression, fury in his eyes. With deliberate movements, the Shepherd stood straight and raised his free hand up and towards the swirling heavens above, the ornaments hanging off the white glove shuddering madly amidst the sweeping gales of the winds.

CRASH!

Innumerable brilliant golden rays of light crashed down from the storm simultaneously and collided against Sorey's open hand, gathering in his palm in the form of a writhing ball of pure energy. The blinding flares of light erupting from the storm in his hand cast eerie shadows upon his face as he lowered it, holding it before himself as he glared at the hellion before him.

Velvet returned his gaze with a nonchalant raised eyebrow. "Heard enough, have you?" she supposed dryly, shifting her body once more into a fighting stance. "Fine by me." she said, beckoning the Shepherd with her human hand. "Let's end this now."

Watching the exchange with horror, Lailah wavered on her hands. "No... Sorey...!" she whispered weakly.

All around her, the seraphim and humans of the group were rousing, awaking from their bout of unconsciousness only to find their leader standing before the hellion with uncharacteristic fury in his eyes and energy thrumming through his body.

"The... hell?" Rose mumbled, blinking rapidly as she pushed herself onto her elbows.

Alisha's gauntlets dug into the dirt as she tried weakly to find her strength. "Sorey...?"

Sorey's jaw was set as he pulled his free arm back. "With all my strength..." The captured storm in his hand shuddered violently in its confinement, emitting pulses of pure golden green energy as he forced it towards the sword in his hand. The storm collided with the metal of his blade, streaking up and down the length of the sword and filling it with a flurry of cackling power. "I shall smite evil...!" Enormous shockwaves burst out from the Shepherd's body, shuddering through the land underfoot with an almighty boom.

Her jacket and hair waving wildly amidst the chaotic gales surging forth, Velvet brought her claw back before her and urged her own power forward, forming a clear ball of energy in the palm of the demonic appendage as she stood defiantly against the might of the full-fledged Shepherd alone. Her smirk deepened as she brought the claw back over her shoulder, breaking into a mad headfirst charge towards the Shepherd.

Edna's eyes widened in horror as she jerked upright as best she could, extending a hand in alarm. "Both of you, STOP IT!" she cried.

Sorey tore forward with an enormous explosion of power accompanied by a deafening crack, his cloak flapping frantically behind him as he shot across the side of the cliff like an arrow of light. He gripped his charged weapon with both hands, his eyes flashing golden with power as he twisted his entire body around in midair, bellowing with the strength of a lion.

"DIVINE WRATH!" he roared, fury in his eyes.

The ceremonial sword tore through the air with the force of the entire storm behind its blade and rammed into the arte in Velvet's claw head-on.

BANG!

An almighty explosion erupted violently atop the cliff as the wrath of the Shepherd was unleashed upon the world. Bolts of brilliant green energy smashed against nearby surfaces, eliciting ear-shattering cracks of thunder that resounded throughout the land upon impact. A violent shockwave superseded it all, rattling the world for miles around with fierce tremors which proved to be the last straw for the desecrated cliff face atop which they stood.

Suddenly, the world was engulfed in a thick plume of flying dirt and debris as the cliff collapsed, sending two lone figures tumbling down alongside an enormous landslide of dislocated earth toppling into the forest far down below.

The roaring of crashing rocks and cascading dirt surrounded Sorey as he reached out blindly amidst the cloud of dust in his free fall, wreathing his form in the white and green glow of Dezel's armatus just in time to arrest a fraction of his momentum before he slammed into the accumulating pile of debris at the bottom, tumbling uncontrollably over himself.

The world continued to spin dizzyingly even after he came to a halt, coughing coarsely with the taste of dirt in his mouth. His stomach lurching horribly, the Shepherd forced the nausea back as he pushed himself up onto his feet, wiping the blood off his forehead as he scanned his surroundings.

Trunks and branches of buried trees poked out all around him, having stood no chance against the might of the enormous landslide. Up above, dirt and boulders still fell sporadically upon the pile of collapsed earth from the remains of the cliff face up above, continually disturbing the enormous cloud of dust hanging in the air and obscuring his surroundings.

Suddenly, Dezel's disembodied voice rang out in the air. "Behind you!" he roared.

The Shepherd twisted around and thrust out a hand just in time to force the bloodied, enraged form of Velvet back with a powerful gust of wind, casting the hellion bodily backwards through the disturbed dust. The hellion reacted sharply, twisting around in midair and kicking off a partially buried tree trunk to redirect her velocity forward once more, pushing off the debris with her claw to tear down at him from above.

Without a second thought, Sorey spun around and drew his arms, Mikleo's armatus conforming to his pose as he instantly fired the nocked bow in his hands, sending a barrage of water arrows up and into the dirt-filled air towards the descending hellion.

Metal screeched against metal as Velvet extended her gauntlet blade while corkscrewing through the air, cutting the closest arrows in half as she continued her descent, bringing her monstrous claw up with a mad, unhinged scream.

"SHEPHERD!"

Sorey's breath was crushed out of his lungs as the hellion's claw slammed into him, its serrated razor-sharp fingers curling tightly against his body and pinning his arms to the side. The entire arm itself then began to pulse, siphoning the power of the Armatus away from him like a leech. His flickering eyes widened in shock and disbelief as he registered what was happening.

With a fierce tug, the monster jerked its arm out of Sorey. With it came Mikleo's body in its grasp, forcibly disconnected from the Armatus.

The world instantly darkened as it was submerged into a deep, festering storm of malevolence that erupted from the hellion holding his friend hostage. Claps of thunder boomed deafeningly as flashes of unnatural lightning crashed amidst the utterly darkened void surrounding them, accompanying the screaming of the winds as they whirled around at the apex of the storm's power.

Mikleo squirmed and screamed in the monster's grasp, the putrid malevolence of the surrounding domain eagerly and visibly seeping into his body like water into a dry sponge. He cried out again as the pulsating claw clutching his waist tightened, tears falling from his eyes clenched shut against the overwhelming pressure of malevolence tearing into his heart. This time, Sorey didn't hesitate.

SHINK!

Velvet's body seized up as cold steel sank deep into her.

She let out a small, choked gasp and stumbled backwards, her demonic grip going slack and releasing Mikleo onto the floor. All around, the raging storm of her domain suddenly lost its strength, weakly relinquishing its hold on the world as its owner toppled over backwards onto the rough debris, her hair and jacket splaying messily about her body like the feathers of a downed bird.

Her shaking hands reached down to the source of the pulsing agony, returning caked in blood from the wound of the sword that had gone clean through her abdomen. The viscous liquid poured out from her steadily and gratuitously, staining her jacket and hair red as it dripped down onto the ground below.

This time, Laphicet wasn't around to save her.

With the withering of her domain, the light of the rising sun was finally able to cut through the gloom, basking the world in a brilliant, gorgeous golden glow as it rose valiantly above the distant horizon.

Haloed by the amber light of the emerging sunrise, the Shepherd stepped quietly towards her, his boots crunching amidst the sound of birds chirping merrily amidst the new dawn. His sword hung loosely in his grip, dripping drops of blood upon the stones below. Behind him, the forms of his seraphim stood in a semi-circle around the scene, their faces obscured by the bright light of the sun beaming down upon her broken body.

She opened her mouth, weakly swallowing the blood and bile at the back of her throat. "This... This was a long time coming." she mumbled, staring down at the blood on her hands. She swallowed again, forcing herself to look up at the figure of the Shepherd as he came to a halt before her. Her eyes glazed over, eyelids growing heavy amidst the whirling storm of agony coursing through her body.

"'Why is it that birds fly?'"

Slowly, the acute waves of pain began to fade, leaving only an empty numbness behind. A dull ringing resounded in both her ears, growing in intensity until it blocked out any meaningful sound from the world around her. "Behold my answer, Velvet."

As the figure before her raised their sword, she let her eyes slide close fully, her mouth forming her final words as the last dregs of consciousness faded from her. "I ask no forgiveness. The sin is mine to bear."

"...Laphicet." she whispered tenderly.

A soft, gentle smile graced the therion's face as she let the darkness take her, eagerly welcoming its cold embrace.

---​

...

She first became aware of the strange noises echoing in her ears. The crashing of waves, the flapping of canvas, and the crying of seagulls.

Somewhere, a bell pierced the air as it was rung repeatedly, its chime mixing with the sounds of groaning lumber and of stretching rope. Men called indistinctly to each other as they ran around her, their boots thumping heavily upon hollow wood. Her nose wrinkled as the acidic smell of salt assaulted her senses, accompanied by an undefinable collection of oily scents that could be defined as wholly unpleasant. She laid asleep there in the middle of it all, curled up against some hot surface with the intense heat of the sun beating down upon her.

All of it, for whatever reason, seemed infinitely familiar.

Finally giving into her befuddlement, Velvet cracked her eyes open only to be instantly blinded by the midday sun shining directly into her eyes. She groaned in irritation, shifting her curled body to shield her gaze with her open hand. Impatiently waiting for her vision to adjust to the dramatic shift in lighting, the woman squinted blearily at her blurry surroundings.

The world welcomed her with vibrant, generous brushstrokes of brown and blue, accented with gentle streaks of silver and maroon. A crisp, salty breeze kicked up, intensifying the sound of rattling canvas and of stretching rope while gently sliding over her hot skin with a soft touch. Her senses awakening and drinking it all in, Velvet slowly registered the smooth rolling motion of the wood surface underneath her.

And just like that, her eyes widened, heedless of the brightness of the sun, as she realized exactly where she was.

"The Van Eltia...?!" The therion gasped, wildly casting about her surroundings in shock.

The vibrant sun hung contently amidst a brilliant, cloudless blue sky, shining down between the slanted rigging and canvas of the infinitely familiar vessel. Gulls flapped their bright white wings as they soared alongside the ship's sails, occasionally diving down in an attempt to score some fish from the vast blue ocean sprawling out as far as the eye could see. In the distance, past the bow of the ship, Port Zekson could be seen bustling with trading activity befitting that of the capital's closest maritime facility.

Her raven hair flitting in front of her face in the wind, Velvet glanced around uncomprehendingly from her seat on the sun-bleached deck, her back leaning against the starboard railing of the Van Eltia. "What...?" she breathed helplessly, shaking her head and holding a palm to her temple. "How is..."

A casual sigh rang out over the clamor of the ship's crew, drawing her attention to the side.

"'How is this possible,' right?" the newcomer guessed as she strolled up to the seated therion; her signature smirk playing on her lips. "What a predictable reaction."

"Magilou?!" Velvet shot to her feet in alarm, her steel boots digging into the wooden planks of the deck as she took in the appearance of the familiar witch, clad same as always in her garish pink and purple outfit before her plain as day. "How...?!" she breathed, lost for words in the face of the irritating witch quite openly relishing her befuddlement in front of her.

Her ears twitched as the sound of a nearby conversation drew her attention.

"That was nuts." the familiar voice of Benwick said as the man shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe Velvet would go so far as to do something like this." Perched in the nest amidst the sailor's worn hat, a group of baby sylphjays chirped heatedly in agreement.

A low rumble acknowledged his words, resonating from the headless suit of armor standing by his side atop the second deck of the ship. "While that might be, one can't deny the style in which it was done." The daemon blacksmith Kurogane pumped his fists with a marked enthusiasm that belied his lack of a facial expression. "Now that was some fine swordplay."

His words caused the jaw of the lizard daemon standing beside him to go slack. "The hell?!" Dyle exclaimed, turning to confront the other daemon. "Did you lose your heart along with your head, you cold old bastard?!"

Suddenly, Velvet grunted in surprise as something small yet fierce suddenly crashed against her body and wrapped two arms extraordinarily tightly around her waist with a loud, ear-piercing wail.

"Velveeeeeeeet!" Kamoana wailed her name with tears streaming down her corrupted cheeks, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as she nuzzled her head against the therion's stomach. "D-don't do that! Don't scare me like that!" she cried, squeezing the woman in her grip even tighter as she sobbed. "You have to promise me you won't anymore! You have to! Velvet!"

"K-Kamoana...?" Velvet's expression was utterly helpless as she stumbled backward in the grip of the terrifying little daemon's embrace. After a moment, her loud crying forced the woman to ignore her surprise and hesitantly pat the sobbing girl on the back of the head in a vaguely comforting manner.

"Now now, Kamoana."

Velvet looked up to find a familiar daemon lady with snake eyes calmly stepping forward, her clawed hands gently reaching out to guide the green-haired child's clinging arms away from the other therion. "Velvet's confused right now." Medissa reasoned tenderly, giving the crying girl a reassuring smile. "You'll have to give her some time if you want her to promise you for real. You remember our lessons about patience, right?"

Kamoana stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment with tears still in her eyes before she blinked in surprise. "O-oh! Of course I remember, Medissa!" Abruptly forcing herself to wipe away the tears from her eyes, the little therion stood up straight, visibly steeling herself before her caretaker. "Alright! Then I'll just wait a bit for Velvet to understand. After that, she'll have to promise to me!" She twisted her head and grinned a fanged smile up at the woman in question. "That's how it works, Velvet!" the little devil chirped happily. "And don't you forget it!"

With that, the suddenly bright and happy child took off running, drawing the attention of the two corrupted dogs basking in the sun on the other side of the ship. "Orthie! Russ!" the child greeted enthusiastically. "Time for some more tricks! Are you guys ready?!"

The two dogs wagged their tails in response, pushing themselves up off the wood and following the skipping child down the length of the ship. Medissa gave Velvet an exasperated, well-meaning smile before she followed the trio at a much more sedated pace.

Still standing in the posture that Kamoana's embrace had left her, Velvet slowly turned back to face the witch standing before her with dangerous, deep-seated irritating seeping into her expression. "...Magilou." she growled in a tone that indicated that she had no patience for games. "Spill it. What the hell's going on here?"

The witch's smile was dry. "Come on, it can't be that hard to piece it together." she drawled, gesturing melodramatically at her surroundings. "Think! Use that cunning head of yours. What's the last thing you remember?"

High up in the sky beyond the sails of the Van Eltia, the hawk lovingly nicknamed Grawky let out a piercing cry as he swooped down, briefly blocking out the sun before he perched on the arm of the beaming Prince Percival standing up on the top deck.

"I was... fighting Sorey." Velvet blinked slowly. "This... this isn't real, is it?" she mumbled.

"Bingo!" The witch grinned, waving a hand. "All this is nothing more than a figment of your delirious imagination."

She put a hand to her chin, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "Normally, the thought of me being part of just some lady's fever dream would leave me feeling a bit miffed, but considering how loony you've been acting, I'm actually a kinda honored." She flashed the therion breadwinning smile. "It's not every day that I get to chat with someone almost as messed up in the head as I am." She stuck an index finger to her temple as she added wryly, "Almost, but not quite."

Velvet naturally reacted to the witch's words with a deadpan expression. "...Thanks?" she muttered, shaking her head in exasperation. "I'm not sure having you explain things in my head is going to help."

"I have to agree."

The sound of boots landing on wood drew their attention as a redhaired exorcist stepped up towards them, her hands held cordially together before her dress. "Magilou, perhaps I should be the one to tell Velvet this." Eleanor proposed evenly. "Having you be the one might make things... somewhat unclear." she explained helplessly.

"Poo." Magilou pouted, turning around while laying her hands against the back of her neck. "Fine then, lecture her to your heart's content. It's not like I actually care about any of this."

Eleanor let out a small sigh of exasperation at the witch's words before she met the therion's gaze, perfunctorily crossing her legs as she began her explanation. "Velvet." she began gently. "I understand that things have been... rather difficult for you lately."

Her eyes narrowing, the therion crossed her arms in response, impatiently tapping her index finger on her bicep as she retorted, "If you're going to take all day, then I'm going to have to ask Magilou to tell me instead."

"Hah!" came the witch's snort from behind.

"As you wish." Eleanor responded evenly, holding an impassioned fist to her chest. High up above, the canvas of the sails continued to flap amidst the winds, accompanied by a gentle spray of sea water as the Van Eltia slid over a particularly high patch of water.

"...Velvet." the exorcist's voice was soft yet firm. "You don't deserve to die."

The therion's gaze hardened. "...Of course you would say that." she muttered derisively, pivoting on her heel to face away from her and out towards the sea. "Always the innocent crybaby, huh?"

"That has nothing to do with this!"

Eleanor's yell was surprisingly firm as she took an urgent step forward, her curled fists accompanying the undercurrent of emotion in her voice. "You were planning for that Shepherd Sorey to kill you the moment you challenged him to a fight, weren't you?" she demanded, cutting a hand through the air in fury. "Don't lie! I am inside your head, after all."

Velvet's fists curled.

"What of it?!" she yelled back irritably, whirling around to confront the emotional exorcist once more. "You of all people should know all of the things I've done – the sort of person I am!"

She tossed her bandaged hand to the side, fierce emotion contorting her expression as she curled the hand into a tight fist. "Sorey's strong enough to save Laphicet. That's all that matters!" she growled, holding the exorcist's gaze with fury in her eyes. "Like I said, this was a long time coming. I never forgot my sins, nor the depravity of my soul. I acted with clear acknowledgement of my depravity, and this here is my reckoning. There was never going to be a happy ending for me, Eleanor! There shouldn't, not for a selfish monster like me! Don't you get it?!"

The roaring of the waves behind her filled the silence that followed her outburst, punctuated by the crying of seagulls and the rippling of canvas overhead. In the distance, the port of Loegres continued to grow in size as the pirate ship approached at a high speed, aided by the expert hands of the most skilled sailors in Desolation.

"...You're wrong."

Velvet's murderous glare turned to Magilou as she stepped up, a strange, uncharacteristically sober look on her face. "You're just wrong." the witch repeated, shrugging helplessly.

"I agree." Eleanor nodded slowly, her gaze sharp and quiet. She cast a hand to the side, holding her shoulders high in the solid stance befitting that of an exorcist praetor. "Regardless of what a person has done, regardless of that person's past, there is always an opportunity to change." Her eyes held Velvet's with steeled conviction. "All that matters is whether that individual has the will to grasp that opportunity when it arises." she finished strongly, holding the therion's eyes meaningfully.

Velvet glared back at the infuriating exorcist, drawing her lips back into a thin line. "...You're talking about Sorey." she muttered. "Don't make me laugh."

"Surprisingly enough, that funny little Shepherd been able to bring out quite a bit of kindness out of that twisted little heart of yours lately." Magilou observed, crossing her arms with a sly grin. "And who knows? Maybe he'll even consider forgiving you for all those hateful things you said."

The therion stared at her incredulously. "And why in the worldwould he do that?" she tossed her bandaged hand in the air. "If anything, he'll probably finish the job if he finds out I'm not dead already." she dismissed with a scoff.

Eleanor's smile was soft. "Ask him yourself." she urged gently. "You might just be surprised."

Before Velvet could respond, Magilou abruptly glanced up towards seemingly nothing. "Ah. Looks like time's up." She yawned, reaching up and stretching her arms casually. "Y'know, as fun as this was, try not to get yourself nearly killed again." The witch gave her a wry smirk. "Makes for a very boring tale to tell."

Velvet opened her mouth to respond but blinked when no sound came out.

Both Eleanor and Magilou graced her with their own unique smiles before they turned away, headed off to tend to their other duties aboard the ship. In the wake of their departure, Velvet turned her head and glanced around her surroundings, finding the ship on its final approach to enter the mouth of Port Zekson.

The clanging of the bell of the ship started up once more, ringing in her ears with an unrealistic, warbling sound and causing the entirety of her surroundings to shine unnaturally brightly amidst the calm sunny day. She watched as it all began to fade slowly all around her – the fever dream collapsing with the return of her real-life consciousness.

Despite it all; the conflict raging in her mind and the self-hatred nipping at her heels; there was a small, content smile on her face for just a moment as she savored the last vestiges of her warm dream.

Just like that, the illusion disappeared, plunging her back into reality.

---​

Slowly, she began to resurface from the depths of her slumber. She stayed still as she did so, matching the pace of her breathing to the pulse of her steady heartbeat.

Clean cotton fabric rested upon her washed skin underneath a warm layer of smooth sheets. She laid upon a bed at an angle, elevated by a collection of soft, plushy pillows with her arms lying neatly above the sheets in the pleasantly cozy air of the room. Her long hair, smooth and washed clean, laid the length of the bed beside her recuperating body.

No jolts of pain assaulted her from the series of fresh bandages wrapping around her abdomen. No drops of blood leaked down through the clean cut and onto the sheets below. There was not a speck of grime anywhere on her body at all. It was the cleanest she had felt in months.

A fire crackled softly in a nearby hearth, letting out occasional pops that punctuated the muffled sounds of strangers moving about the adjacent rooms bleeding through the walls of the small room. Loud, enthusiastic chatter came from people walking on the stones outside, their indistinct conversations accompanied by the rattling of carriages and the clopping of horse hooves. Somewhere beyond the general dim of the locals, water flowed freely, driving large, groaning waterwheels while providing an ever-constant, soothing undercurrent to the sounds of civilization.

The audible flipping of a page abruptly drew her attention, indicating that she was not alone. After a moment's hesitation, Velvet slowly slid her eyes open, allowing the bright glow of her surroundings to flood her previously darkened vision.

The fire crackled calmly away in the hearth on one side of her bed, its brilliant dancing figure reflecting off the window in the opposite wall. Streetlights lined the thoroughfare outside, illuminating the way for the groups of citizens moving amidst the bustling nightlife of the city. She turned her gaze away from the window, instead observing her own body lying on the soft bed before her.

A short-sleeve cotton shirt covered her torso, meshing happily with the smooth bedsheets wrapping around her figure. The bandages on her left arm resting above the sheets appeared to have been washed and tightened to a professional degree, while her right wrist was bereft of her ever-present gauntlet blade, leaving only an innocently bare human arm lying by her side.

The turning of another page finally drew her attention to the young man clad in blue sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, quietly reading a green book in the light of a small burning candle. Without taking his eyes off the text before him, Sorey opened his mouth and interrupted the calm ambiance of the cozy room.

"You almost died."

His eyes moved slowly as he continued to read. "Lailah's healing artes weren't enough to stem the bleeding once you had fallen unconscious. It was only because Alisha had sent for medical aid from Ladylake the day before that you were saved." He paused, furrowing his brow as he stared at some figure on the next page. "Even so, it was close." he said soberly. "It's been three days now. The doctors say you'll be able to make a full recovery given about a week of proper rest..."

The Shepherd abruptly stopped reading and met her eyes for the first time since her awakening; a dead serious expression on his face. "You really wanted me to kill you that night."

It was a statement of fact, not a question.

The fire crackled steadily in the muted silence that followed his words, accompanied by the muffled laughter of a couple running through the hallway beyond the oak door of the room. Outside amidst the night, a group of tired travelers stumbled nosily into the lobby of the inn, finally arriving at a place to stay.

"...You should have."

Velvet's words were cold as she looked away from him, her lips drawing into a thin line of distaste. "I told you, didn't I? Your job is to kill me, before I commit even more sins." Her bandaged hand curled, scrunching a handful of the neatly laid blankets inside her fist.

The glow of the contained blaze reflected in the woman's amber eyes as she glared at the fire, dull hatred seeping into her expression. "I've done terrible things without concern for anybody else on my path to vengeance." She shook her head slightly, letting out a self-deprecating scoff. "Even when I joined you, all I could think of was how you were going to be my tool."

She let out a tired sigh, letting her head fall back into the cushioning pillows behind her. "...Dying at the hands of a Shepherd is only proper for someone as twisted as me." she finished grimly, sliding her eyes shut.

Sorey's expression was unreadable as he sat there in the silence, studying the twisted expression of the hellion lying atop the washed bed, her cascading raven hair contrasting sharply with the clean white sheets enveloping her. At his side, the folded cloak of the Shepherd sat innocuously atop the table, its fabled patterns seeming to take on a life of their own amidst the flickering light of the candle.

Suddenly, the green book in his hands snapped shut as he tossed it to the side, instead meeting her reopened eyes with a pointed expression.

"Did I pass your test?" he asked bluntly.

Velvet blinked in surprise, staring at him uncomprehendingly.

A resigned understanding eventually seeped into her expression. The bed creaked underneath her as she laid her head back to rest once more upon the elevated pillows behind her, letting her gaze drift up towards the cracked ceiling above. "You did." she sighed, the tension draining from her muscles. "...I suppose I passed yours as well."

The indistinct chattering of the passing humans continued incessantly outside. Somewhere, a dog began to bark, setting off a chain reaction as other animals joined in, forming a spontaneous chorus of howls that rang out throughout the city amidst the night.

Well-laid fabric rustled in protest as Velvet abruptly pushed herself up in bed, her raven hair trailing her movements as she did so. With a swift tug, the hellion irately jerked the tucked-in sheets from underneath the mattress, allowing her stiff legs, clad in a set of simple cotton pants, to snake out from underneath the covers into the open air.

Sorey's eyes went wide in alarm as he realized what she was doing. "W-wait, Velvet!" he stammered. "H-hold on a sec!"

Ignoring the irrelevant noises coming from the Shepherd's mouth, Velvet stood up from her bed and stepped towards the door, furrowing her brow as she took in the status of her gear lying on the wardrobe before her. After a brief moment, she slipped her feet into the polished steel boots on the floor and grabbed her tattered black jacket off its hook, pulling it on over her cotton shirt. Then, without a glance towards the young man watching her with wide eyes, she grasped the door latch and swept out of the room.

It took a good long moment for Sorey to fully register that he was now sitting in Velvet's room alone with an opened door hanging ajar at his side. When he had finally done so, he panicked, scrambling off his chair and out into the hallway in pursuit of the insane woman.

"Velvet!" His eyes were wide and anxious as he caught up to her swift stride down the length of the hallway. "The doctors said that you have to rest to fully heal!" he said urgently, trying in vain to gain the hellion's attention as he dogged her steps. "If you don't, your wounds might reopen with excess movement!"

The therion continued her steps forward heedless of his words, her steel boots clanking repetitively upon the wood planks underfoot as she navigated the halls of the inn. Chattering of travelers ranging from weary adults to giggling children could be heard through the closed doors that they passed. The walls themselves were decorated with brilliant, vibrant pictures of the world, giving visitors a sense of calm as they traversed the warmly lit pathway to their places of temporary residence.

Having received no response from the therion, Sorey shook his head and changed tactics, instead speaking with an impassioned tone. "Velvet," he began again, "whatever you're planning, please change your mind."

The clanking of her steel boots filled the gap between his words as she continued to walk. "You don't deserve this." he breathed, curling his fists in conviction. "I just don't believe you do. That's all there is to it." He shook his head furiously, narrowing his eyes as he took a final urgent step forward. "So Velvet, please don't-!"

Suddenly, the woman came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the empty lobby, her black coat sweeping around her body as she whirled around to face him with an expression that could only be described as annoyance. "You can save your breath." she said in exasperation. "I won't try anything stupid like what you're thinking."

Her expression darkened as she took an intimidating step forward, coming almost nose-to-nose with the wide-eyed Shepherd. "But if you're going to insist on keeping me caged in that stuffy room for a whole damn week, you'll have to kill me, properly this time, before I eat you alive." For effect, the therion flexed her bandaged fist, causing him to pale slightly as he realized just how much of a disadvantage he would be at in the case of a fight.

Thoroughly cowed, Sorey nodded meekly in the face of the woman's terrifying wrath.

The door to the inn opened into the night with a charming jangle of bells as she then proceeded to leave the building with a satisfied huff, leaving the Shepherd behind in the empty lobby. His panicked heart racing in his chest, he glanced over his shoulder to send a helpless look towards the wide-eyed innkeeper who had been watching the whole scene before he broke into a run, jogging out the door in pursuit.

The brightly lit capital city of Ladylake thrived in blatant disregard to the encroaching night, bustling with vibrant activity as all manner of people travelled the stone bridges and pathways built around its vast waterway network. Streetlamps engraved with the symbol of the Hyland Royal Family stood vigilant against the darkness in evenly spaced out formations, lighting the way for the chattering city folk eagerly traversing the well-worn cobblestone thoroughfares to their choice places of revelry.

Velvet strolled through the cool night among the crowds, her dark jacket and hair trailing behind her amidst the tinted lights of the restaurants and bars near full to bursting with activity. Her amber eyes wandered as she walked, watching the humans busily going about their lives amidst the light of the waning moon above. Somewhere, a street musician took up their instrument, strumming unassuming chords that meshed harmoniously with the general noise of civilization filling the air.

As she was walking along the secluded side of a commercial street beside a parallel waterway, she abruptly asked aloud, "Are the others alright?" Her words were soft as she spoke into the night.

Following behind her at a respectful distance, Sorey nodded his head seriously, shifting his gaze away from the crowds towards her. "Yeah." he answered. "Everyone's okay."

The two came to a halt as she turned around to face him fully amidst the partial shadows of the walkway. "...Mikleo as well?" she asked quietly, looking at him expectantly with a strange mix of emotion in her eyes.

Sorey crossed his arms and turned to the side, facing out towards the line of businesses across the street. The bright multicolored lights reflected vibrantly in his eyes as he stared distantly out towards the crowds. "Mikleo... was definitely more than a little rattled from what you did." he recounted soberly, watching the indistinct silhouettes of people walking in front of the distant lights. "I think it was when Edna began to cry that he stopped telling me that you weren't worth saving."

He gave Velvet a sad smile. "She might've been the most shaken out of all of us, I think. Kept calling you an idiot and a moron for going so far. I'd be careful if I were you – I think she promised to hit you a few dozen times while we were in the doctor's carriage."

The Shepherd shifted on his feet and went on. "Rose and Alisha were all bruised pretty bad at the end of all of it, but artes were enough to help them get to the city. They're both mostly recovered now – funnily enough, they didn't want to sit still, same as you." Sorey gave her a helpless look. "Rose is off reconvening the Scattered Bones somewhere in the city. Alisha went back at her villa, working with what she has to gather more information on Maltran's history."

He uncrossed his arms, habitually allowing his right hand to fall to the pommel of his sword hanging from his hip. "Lailah wanted to go check up on the status of the Lord of the Land, I think." he continued. "Alisha showed Mikleo how to get into the Royal Family's archives, so he's probably in there right now. Dezel should be with Rose, and Edna is probably somewhere quiet, away from all the noise." he finished softly.

"They've all come by the inn quite often to check in on you – even Mikleo." he added markedly, turning to face her with a reassuring smile on his face. "You really had us worried, Velvet."

Her lips silently drew into a thin line in response to his words.

With the grinding of steel boots on cobblestone, the hellion turned back around and resumed her walk without another word, continuing to follow the path down the length of the darkened waterway. Sorey followed calmly in her footsteps, taking the chance to enjoy the cool night air himself.

Crickets chirped amidst the gentle lapping of lake water against stone, filling the air of the waterside park with a sense of tranquility, isolated by a perimeter tall walls that separated the green space from the bustling nightlife of the city. Moths circled insistently around the glass lanterns hanging from lampposts dotting the stone pathways, casting long shadows that frequently interrupted the constant light illuminating the steps leading up to the platform overlooking the vast lake beyond the stone foundations underfoot.

A cold breeze fluttered in from the surface of the lake beyond the reach of the lanterns, causing Sorey to shiver slightly as he stepped up the stairs to the overlook platform, finding the figure of the jacketed hellion standing by herself before the railing looking out in the abyss. He shuddered as the cold air seeped in through the cracks of his clothing, finding himself wishing that he hadn't left his Shepherd's cloak behind in the inn.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked worriedly, breaking the silence of the park as he stepped up to her side. "If you get sick now..."

Velvet shook her head absently, leaning forward and resting her forearms atop the railing as she felt the touch of the clean breeze upon her skin. "The cold and the heat don't bother me." she said with closed eyes. "I can't taste anything either." she added quietly. "That's why I could eat Lailah's cooking back then. I can't recall the flavor of anything... save for the taste of blood."

She slid her eyes open and turned her head towards his surprised expression under the gentle lighting of the lantern above. "...I'm a hellion." she muttered softly. "A corrupted being of malevolence meant to be your enemy. Just what about that don't you understand?"

His boots scratched on the stones as he too turned to face out towards the darkened waters, his expression strangely thoughtful as he properly considered her words. His brown hair waved in the chilly breeze as he stood there, feeling her incredulous, disbelieving gaze on him as she waited for his response. Behind him, the trees of the park rustled amidst the tranquility, accompanied by the soft song of a wind chime ringing somewhere amidst the branches.

"'Why is it you think that birds fly?'" he quoted.

Sorey gave her a soft, sheepish grin, scratching the back of his head. "I have to admit I haven't actually figured out an answer to that question of yours." he chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Sorry."

His expression grew serious. "...But I know that answer won't be found by blindly following what I've been told. Nor will it be found by constantly attempting to bring back the past through the relics of old." He curled his gloved hand into a fist, holding it before his breast. On the back of his hand, the symbol of the Shepherd seemed to glow in the light of the lantern. "I know that now for a fact." he promised.

"Sorey..." Velvet took a deep breath as she began, "About what I said-"

He held up a hand, shaking head. "No, what you said about me was right." he agreed soberly, a self-deprecating smile on his face.

"...In a way, you showed me everything that I had already known deep inside of my heart. That the way I was approaching everything was flawed." He chuckled wryly, shaking his head. "I was born far away from this world, after all. The realities of human civilization were as surprising to me as they were to Mikleo."

He looked out into the darkness, towards the same view that he'd once looked out towards as Lailah told him all about the true duty of the Shepherd a long, long time ago. His jaw was set as he thought back to all that had transpired ever since that day he had pulled the sword on his hip from the pedestal. To all that he had learned ever since he had declared what his dream had been.

He turned to face her fully, resolute determination in his stance. "I've decided that I'm done trying to copy the relics of the past." he declared, shaking his head. "Instead, I intend to use my knowledge of the past to help pave my own unique path forward. To build a new world that learns from the mistakes of those who have come before us."

He held her gaze evenly with strength and vigor in his stance and a soft, welcoming smile on his face. "A world in which all beings willing to coexist can thrive together." he announced proudly.

"There must be a way to make a better world for everyone."

The words of an old acquaintance rang softly in her ears as she stood there in the face of the Shepherd's true conviction, his dream laid bare. A pang of true loss passed inexplicably through her at that very moment, followed by a strange sense of endearment to the one who had somehow come to succeed the exorcist's ideals.

"Humans, daemons, and malakhim. And I intend to find it."

His boots scuffed on the stones below as he stepped forward, straightening his back as he met her gaze with a firm yet welcoming expression. One befitting that of a Shepherd dearly devoted to the prosperity of his flock, no matter the odds. The one who would pave his own path.

"I'd like to ask you to come along with me on that journey, Velvet." he proposed gently, his smile soft and encouraging.

The symbol of the Shepherd emblazoned upon the back of his glove glistened in the light of the lantern as he extended into the air between them; an open invitation extended without malice nor deceit. "Come and help me bring about such a world, starting by saving Maotelus from Heldalf. Together." he said, holding his extended hand up to the hellion who had betrayed him. "How about it?" he grinned.

Velvet stared at the open gloved hand before her, unmoving. Behind her, the wind chime continued to sing its lullaby into the night, rounding off the harsh chaos of the rippling leaves. Her hair and coat waved softly amidst the damp breeze as she stood there, studying the young man for the longest while.

Eventually, she let out a soft, resigned sigh.

"...That's a bold thing to ask of a Lord of Calamity." she remarked, tossing her bandaged hand into the air. "Not afraid I'll kill you in your sleep? Devour you and your friends?"

The Shepherd shrugged in response. "I'll take my chances." he replied easily.

She shook her head in dry disbelief. "...You really are a moron." she sighed; a strangely fond expression on her face.

"Once I've made my mind up, nothing can stop me."

Her bandaged left hand rose and grasped the Shepherd's under the soft lighting of the secluded park.

---​

Eventually, the cold breeze combined with his lingering exhaustion proved to be too much for Sorey, causing him to head back to the inn only after reminding Velvet once more not to overexert herself with the wound in her abdomen. Now alone in silence of the park, the hellion went back to leaning against the railing of the platform, resting her forearms on the cold stone surface and idly examining her hands. Her coat and hair waved in the cool breeze blowing in from the darkness beyond as she listened to the gentle ringing of the lone wind chime.

"So. You've gained the Shepherd's trust."

The monotone, inflectionless voice rang out from behind as a small figure stepped out from among the trees, stepping up the stairs of the platform towards her. "What now?" Symonne tilted her head to the side, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

Velvet didn't turn to face her, choosing to instead turn her gaze up towards the black abyss beyond the railing, a deeply thoughtful expression on her face. "...It's strange." she ruminated, bringing her hands together before her. "I've always been used to living for a single purpose, ignoring all other things that didn't matter. Now... it's not so clear."

She pushed herself off the railing and faced the seraph, resting a hand on her hip as she met the girl's emotionless eyes evenly. She held her bandaged hand out to the side, briefly touching upon the floodgates holding her domain back to allow a few small trails of purple miasma to seep out into the open air.

"...None of this changes who I truly am, nor what I've done." the therion said quietly, holding her malevolent arm in front of her as proof of her words. "My sins will stay forever with me. I know I won't ever find a happy ending, and I won't bother to search for one." she maintained solemnly, acceptance clear in her voice.

The clinging of the wind chime continued in the silence that followed, mixing harmoniously with the gentle lapping of water and gratuitous rustling of leaves of their surroundings. Somewhere amidst the park, a giggling couple stole away in the shadows, hiding from the bustle of the city in their own slice of heaven. Elsewhere, an elderly woman stepped over the worn cobblestones of the path, her cane clicking steadily alongside her meandering pace.

Upon the platform, Velvet shook her head, sealing her domain once more and letting her innocent-seeming bandaged arm fall back to her side. "Still... to think someone like him could exist." She smirked in disbelief, turning her gaze up to the brightened expanse of the city rising up beyond the walls of the park. "Someone who would bother to save someone as screwed up as me." Her eyes were distant as she let her gaze fall, a soft, incredulous smile on her face.

"...That fact that he did so in of itself is worth my gratitude. That's all." she said quietly.

Symonne was silent in the wake of the hellion's words, the fabric of her loose-fitting shirt rippling softly amidst the breeze.

Velvet lowered her gaze, her expression hardening as she studied the seraph. She crossed her arms as she recalled the words that she had uttered the last time they had met. "...About what you said." she added quietly.

"The sorrow of life that disgusts you so much and drives you to Heldalf's side – that sorrow is a key, irreplaceable part of life." she stated. "In this world, people naturally live to struggle. What would be unnatural would be to suppress their ability to do so." Hanging by her side, her bandaged left hand curled into a powerful fist.

"...For that struggle, that constant battle... is what it means to be alive." she breathed with quiet conviction.

With that, she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving the servant of the Lord of Calamity standing there alone atop the platform.

Elsewhere amidst the vibrant nightlife of the Hyland capital city, a street performer began to play, weaving together soft, gentle tunes that resounded warmly through the clean, untainted air. Laughter rung over the clinking of glasses and the scraping of dishes as people savored a moment of calm amidst a world in turmoil, enjoying each other's simple company under the cover of darkness.

And so, the first night came to a close.

End of Part 5 – Human.​

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 23 – Treason.

A fell breeze heavy with the scent of water blew through the air above the holy sanctuary, bringing with it a biting chill. Felice exhaled softly in its wake, watching as her misting breath vanished into the cold morning air.

Steel clinked rhythmically atop carved marble as Velvet maneuvered her way around the intricate designs of the sanctuary's roof, quietly coming to a halt beside the seated merchant. The entirety of Ladylake sprawled out before their perch atop the sanctuary, providing a view that ranged from the bustling market square near the main street to the quiet neighborhoods at the water's side.

"...I was worried about you," Felice said softly, breaking the silence. "Wasn't sure if things were going to work out between you, the boss, and everyone else back then."

"But you still led me to them," Velvet replied evenly, crossing her arms as she leant back against the hard stone of the vaulted dome. "Seems to me like you knew just as well as I what had to be done."

With a long-suffering sigh, the merchant gave the therion a disgruntled look.

"Think I didn't know that? Doesn't mean I have to feel any better about it." she grumbled sourly, shaking her head in exasperation. "...You're a real piece of work, Velvet – anyone ever tell you that?"

"My brother did." Velvet's lips thinned softly as she settled down atop the ledge beside the assassin, one leg curled up close to her chest while the other dangled freely. "...Of course, I didn't hold back for him, either," she added. "The little brat needed to take his medicine, so I made sure of it, no matter how badly he complained it tasted. He let out no small amount of temper tantrums in the process."

Felice hummed as she leant forward, crossing her legs and resting her head on her hand. "Well... alright, that I get," she conceded. "Sometimes you just need to go and put a foot down and do what you have to. Talfryn would always do the dumbest of stuff, thinking that he was 'helping' me. Never thinking about what I would have wanted, just what he thought I'd want..." She let out a sigh, shaking her head in exasperation. "Brothers can be real handfuls sometimes, huh?"

"...Yeah. I know that well." Out of the corner of her eye, Felice watched as the therion subconsciously moved her hand towards the pocket of her jacket. She opened her mouth to reply but stopped herself when she noticed the foreign look on the other woman's face. After a pause, she returned her gaze forward, choosing to remain quiet.

A strange sort of silence fell between the assassin and the hellion as they sat there together, both watching as the light mist skimming the rooftops slowly dissipated with the rising temperatures. Throughout the city, patches of foliage lining streets and pooling in parks were slowly transitioning to the hues of autumn, littering the cobblestones with more leaves in the wake of each wayward breeze. Regardless of it all, the denizens of Ladylake continued to move about their daily routines and rituals, heedless of the uncertainty in the air.

"...Do you ever wonder about all of this?"

Felice's gaze was distant as she uttered the quiet words, staring past the plumes of mist and towards the shadowed waters beyond. She extended her gloved hand tentatively outward, watching the cold wisps of mist dance atop her fingertips.

"Malevolence. Hellions. Seraphim. I couldn't believe that these things truly existed all this time, and that the life that I had been living was only part of the truth of the world," she explained distantly. "Even now, even having seen indirect but definitive evidence that seraphim and hellions exist with my own eyes, I still have trouble comprehending it."

She turned to face the therion sitting beside her, a frown on her face. "Why are things like this?" she asked uncertainly. "Is this really all because of man's nature? Monsters that spawn from the corruption of human souls? Dragons that soar the skies as tainted seraphim?"

Velvet shifted in her seat, her eyes inevitably drifting towards the bandaged arm innocently propped atop her bent knee. "It's all a little ridiculous, huh?" she smirked humorlessly, flexing the fingers of her left hand.

The malevolence simmered just under the surface like always, ready to erupt in an embodiment of her own sin at a moment's notice.

"Back then," she recalled distantly, "all I could think of was my vengeance. Devouring other beings, cutting down all those in my way... all of that came as natural. I never gave what I was doing or why a second thought." She returned Felice's subdued yet curious expression with an even gaze. "But during the course of my journey, I ended up stumbling upon why it had all come to be this way." She shook her head, causing her long trail of raven hair to shift sympathetically from side to side.

"...This is how things have been for a long time, Felice," she told the other woman simply. "Don't let it get to your head."

The merchant bobbed her head slowly in return, mulling over the hellion's words as she kicked her dangling boots in the cold misty air. "...I guess I'll take your word for it," she replied with a shrug.

Her eyes slowly drifted up and down the complex network of streets cutting their ways through the various districts of the merchant quarter as she watched men and women of trading guilds leading their caravans towards the opening market. From this distance, their expressions upon their faces were unclear; their emotions opaque through the mist. From her perch above it all, Felice watched as they all carried on with their business, completely unaware of the truth. "But still... I have to wonder how all of this will end," the merchant pondered softly.

A flock of jays fluttered noisily in the clearing air before them, diving down from the fast-blowing winds towards the sheltered alleyways below, soaring together with true purpose and direction. The two of them watched the birds disappear out of sight into the long shadows of the buildings down below as the morning sun fully established its grip upon the waking city.

Suddenly, Felice leant back and threw both arms up into the air.

"Argh!" she yelled, her voice echoing off the alleyways below. "You have no idea how hard the Boss has been driving us lately. Research Maotelus this, find out about Heldalf that. I haven't gotten any sleep ever since we got here, damnit!" she moaned.

The other woman just waved a callous hand in the air. "If it's that bad, you could just quit," she replied. "Nothing's stopping you from leaving, right?"

She gave the hellion a reproachful look in response. "Y'know, I could ask you the same thing," she shot back. "A scary Lord of Calamity trotting alongside the Shepherd? Don't need to know much about the legends to see that's pretty counterintuitive."

Velvet let out a sigh, leaning forward with her weight on her elbows as she looked out into the distance beyond. "It wasn't what I originally planned, that's for sure." She shook her head softly. "But I suppose it's a good idea to make sure that Maotelus gets saved myself, not to entrust Sorey with everything," she reasoned with a light shrug. "It's a sensible arrangement."

"Well, if you're gonna put it that way," Felice chuckled, "then you can put me down for that answer as well." She gave Velvet a sly grin, tilting her head to the side. "Gotta make sure Talfryn doesn't do anything stupid, you know? He almost got killed a while back, and I ain't letting him hear the end of that anytime soon."

Her grin slowly transformed into a vindictive Cheshire grin. "Making him do all of my merchant paperwork for the next three months should do it. Nah, actually, make that four," she purred darkly. "He needs to really learn that next time he pulls some stupid stunt like that, he'd better die for real, because otherwise he'd wish he'd be dead when I sink my claws into him..." A dreadful look had overtaken the twin's face, contorting her features into a terrifying expression.

At her side, Velvet looked on in exasperation. "And you say I'm the piece of work," she sighed.

With that, she pushed off the ledge with her hand, standing back up atop the roof before the clearing skyline. Felice's head shot up towards her the moment she did so, eyes wide.

"W-wait!" she exclaimed loudly, panic evident in her tone. "Before you go, I just wanted to ask-!"

The therion turned away and started walking, waving an irritated hand in the air. "I'm not helping with your Mabo Curry Bun nonsense," she growled. "Find someone else."

"H-huh?!" Felice nearly slipped out of her seat in shock. "How'd you know I was going to ask you that?!" The merchant shook her head furiously, scrambling to recapture her potential asset before it slipped between her fingers.

"J-just listen a sec!" she pleaded, pushing herself onto her feet and following as the other woman navigated down the roof of the Sanctuary. "Your cooking skills are legendary – the Boss said so herself! Think of all the revenue – the sheer amount of money we could make selling Mabo Curry Buns 2.0 to the market! The world would go absolutely insane, even more so than it already is about our products! Brand recognition would be completely off the charts in all parts of the continent! And...!"

"Save it."

Velvet stopped just short of the edge of the roof, turning to face the pestering merchant while crossing her arms. "I know everything you're going to say," she sighed irritably, tapping her index finger repeatedly against her crossed arm. "I was listening in on your team's meeting this morning."

Felice gaped at her like a fish out of water for a few seconds before finally managing to form a coherent sentence. "B... but Talfryn and I were whispering!" she argued, aghast. "We didn't even want the others to know our surprise! How in the world did you hear...?"

Velvet gave her a dry look in response.

The merchant stared. "...Damn." she cursed under her breath. "It seems I've underestimated you." She shook her head, gathering courage for one final push. "But... I think you might've forgotten something..." she began.

The therion rolled her eyes as she turned away from the merchant. Facing out into the distance, she pulled something out of her jacket pocket and chucked it over her shoulder, hearing the distinctive clink of coins as the other woman caught the bag behind her.

"Looks like I don't owe you anything anymore," Velvet observed casually, a light smirk playing on her lips. "Better luck next time." With that, she tensed her legs and leapt inhumanly high into the morning skies, her hair and jacket flaring out around her body in midair like the wings of a jet-black raven.

Felice snapped out of her shock and stomped forward towards the edge, raising the fisted bag of gald in fury. "Y-you damn well better believe there'll be a next time!" she shouted reproachfully at the departing woman. "This isn't over, not by a long shot!! You hear me?!"

Her only response was her own voice echoing off the nearby buildings below as the falling therion vanished among the long shadows of the early morning sun, leaving her standing alone atop the Sanctuary.

She let out a long-suffering sigh in the hellion's wake, shaking her head while muttering a few choice curses under her breath in the silence that followed. Slowly, her annoyed expression faded, replaced a contemplative one as she gazed out beyond the courtyard below to the view now present before her.

The vast, dauntless white walls of Rountabel Palace glistened in the morning sun as they rose high above it all, perched atop the highest and most defensible section of Ladylake. From her spot atop the Sanctuary to the Lady of the Lake, she felt dwarfed by the towering building – insignificant compared to the true might of those who ruled supreme above it all. Arrogant humans who had long since lost their humility in the face of the gods. As she stared at the enormous building, she crossed her arms and shifted on her feet, frowning in thought.

"...Malevolence, huh?" she mumbled.

The strong eastward wind soon picked up once more, rustling the merchant's hair as it swept across the denizens of the city of Ladylake, leaving behind hints of moisture in its wake. A precursor to a storm soon to come.

---​

"Damn! Another missing shipment." The stall owner heaved a dejected sigh as he dug around in his apron pockets. "...One more of these and we're done for."

"I got word from one of my merchant friends that the Rolance army is up to something." The housewife leant in conspiratorially close to her friends as they walked down the aisle together. "They saw the soldiers across the front lines acting up. They might be moving to strike Hyland at this very moment!"

"The hell is this?!" The enraged man threw his hands up into the air in fury at the cowering peddler. "You say you're charging how much for bread now?! You doubled prices just last week you bastard!"

"And honestly, what was up with all that Shepherd talk a while back?" The older lady manning her book stall shook her head in exasperation. "You'd think he just up and vanished nowadays."

"I 'eard that fire out on the other side of the lake finally went out." The laborer grunted, wiping his forehead with a soiled cloth. "Damn shame, that. Was a decent fishing spot – now it's all smolderin' ash..."

"...Oof!"

Velvet was jolted from her distant musings as somebody charged directly into her walking amongst the marketplace crowds, causing her to instantly tense up in alarm. Her eyes snapped to attention dangerously quickly only to find a harmless young boy stumbling backwards away from the impact, flailing his arms uselessly in the air while letting out a loud shout.

She rolled her eyes, untensing her body while lazily reaching out with her left hand to grasp the kid's arm moments before he fell face-first onto plaza floor.

"You shouldn't run," she said as he gawked up at her with wide eyes.

Her expression was dry as he instantly opened his mouth to respond. "But," she continued dryly, "since you're going to ignore me completely, at least try look where you're going so you don't look like an idiot. Got it?"

His face turning beet-red, the gaping boy stammered, "I wasn't...! I..." Finally recognizing defeat, he shook his head and bobbed his head meekly in agreement to her words. "I mean – y-yes ma'am..." he answered weakly.

"Junior!" A man walking from down the aisle called sternly; a frown etched on his face as he approached the two. "I told you to be careful! People are busy as is without you running into them and knocking 'em over." The well-dressed man gave Velvet an apologetic look. "Sorry about that. He's a real handful sometimes."

"You can have him back," Velvet replied dryly. She released her left hand, causing the kid stumble forward with an alarmed yelp. "I take it you're his father?" she asked.

"Uncle, actually," the man sighed, almost absent-mindedly wrangling the boy to a halt in front of him with his hands heavy on his shoulders. "His parents are both at the front lines, may the seraphim protect them."

He frowned down at his nephew sternly. "Junior. While your attitude is understandable given your situation, that doesn't excuse such rude behavior. You must behave – if not for me, then your parents!" he pleaded.

The boy frowned darkly, looking off to the side. "...What would you know?" he muttered lowly.

The uncle gave Velvet an expression of deep suffering in the silence that followed. "Well," he said loudly, "I'm sorry for having wasted your time. Farewell, miss." He gave the woman a thankful nod he started moving again, bringing his brooding nephew along with him. "Gods know that everyone could do with a bit of luck nowadays," he sighed sadly.

The therion silently watched the two disappear within the chattering crowds of the bustling marketplace before she turned around, resuming her walk amongst the humans. Their gossip, complaints, news, and rumors – all of it washed over her in waves.

Groups of all kinds of people gathered and conversed all around the enormous plaza, adding to the cacophony of conversation and activity in one of the busiest plazas of the city. Stalls lined the cobblestones, arranged with assortments of goods hidden from the afternoon heat underneath colorful multicolored canopies. High above it all, the grand palace of the Royal Family stood, watching over the marketplace with an all-knowing presence.

She felt his eyes on her long before she saw him, staring directly at her through the crowds.

Mikleo's brilliant blue clothing shone in the daylight, visually isolating him from the people who walked around him while unaware of his presence. He stood there unmoving beside the edge of the running waterway; his gaze affixed to hers. The tension in his stance was clear – the scowl on his face deep.

Velvet let her gaze drift away as she continued to walk, a lone hellion traversing the bustling marketplace underneath the bright rays of the sun.

An enormous waterwheel carved with elaborate, flowing patterns groaned repetitively from the quietly flowing waterway running alongside the tranquil path. Planters lined the cobblestone trail, populated with well-groomed flowerbeds laying underneath the shadows of yellowing trees. Stray animals scattered away from the sounds of Velvet's boots as she came to a halt at the edge of the stones beside an empty bench, staring out at the waterwheel across the flowing waters in the comparative tranquility of the pathway.

It wasn't long before he emerged from the crowds to enter the pathway as well, his boots scuffing on the stones as he came to a halt behind her. The silence that followed was broken only by the repetitive noises of the waterway and the distant clamor of the nearby marketplace.

"You-"

"You wanted to see me dead."

His voice halted as the hellion turned around to face him; a hard expression on her face. She raised a pointed eyebrow at him, resting a hand on her hip. "The hellion that turned your childhood friend to the darkness – the monster that manipulated him, betrayed him, and corrupted him. It would've been so much neater if I had just died that night, is that right?"

"I..." Despite his earlier fury, the seraph found that he was at a sudden loss for words in the face of Velvet's cold words.

She waved a hand in the air, shaking her head. "But you're a seraph. You're above such feelings – not like disgusting hellions like me." She smirked humorlessly. "After all, what are we hellions but mindless beasts? Monsters to be purified."

Mikleo gritted his teeth.

"...I can't help but wonder what you were like," he muttered quietly in the silence that followed, "back when you were a human."

He met her eyes, his frown deepening as he studied her unaffected expression. "The carelessness with which you toyed with Sorey... the thoughtlessness with which you shaped him into what you wanted him to be." His words were deeply resentful. "Would the human you have been as disgusted as I at your actions, I wonder?"

Velvet shrugged in response. "That person died a long time ago." She glanced off to the side, her eyes unseeing. "...I'm sure that she would've been absolutely horrified to see what she would become, to say the least."

The waters of the waterway continued to flow behind them, driving the waterwheel in steady, rhythmic rotations. The clamor of the marketplace continued in the distance, muffled by the trees growing in their islands of nature.

Suddenly, Mikleo's face grew pale.

Velvet raised a questioning eyebrow at him, noting the slight tremble running through his body as he took a step back away from the patch of grass to the side. She followed his gaze and found a stray dog inching out from beyond the shadows, hackles raised as it began to growl, glaring directly at the space of air where Mikleo was standing.

Panic began to seep into the water seraph's expression as he took another blind step backwards, raising his arms defensively as the animal's growling intensified.

"H-hey, back off!" he stammered. "I didn't do anything to you!"

In response, the dog let out a vicious snarl, lowering its stance in preparation for a charge. Mikleo's eyes widened in alarm.

SQUELCH!

Velvet's claw exploded outward from her bandaged arm, causing both the seraph and the animal to jolt in surprise. The therion curled the fingers of her demonic claw and raised an expectant eyebrow at the dog staring dumbly at her.

Predictably, the resonant little mutt leapt in shock and fright, turning tail and sprinting away into the flowers, completely forgetting the water's seraph presence. Her extended arm still pulsing at her side, Velvet turned back to face him in the tense silence that followed.

"I told you from the very beginning," she said quietly. "I do what I need to do."

Faint trails of purple miasma seeped quietly outward from the pulsating surface of the serrated arm hanging by her side, dissipating into the daylight. Her expression was hard and resolute. "I accept the weight of my sins – both the ones I have and will commit." She shook her head, waving her human hand irrelevantly in the air. "Hate me all you want. But know that won't stop me from doing what needs to be done to achieve my goals. That's just who I am," she muttered. "Who I will always be."

Mikleo's eyes were hard as he stared at the monstrous appendage that had been seared into his mind – the claw that had nearly devoured him. His fingers twitched into a tight fist. He could feel it, even now – the overwhelming agony, the futility as he was engulfed with malevolence. Her malevolence.

His jaw tightened.

"...With that being said, I'm sorry."

The words were so sudden, so completely and utterly out of place that Mikleo's raging emotions shuddered to a screeching halt. He stared incredulously at the monster standing before her, trying but failing to find any signs of deceit in the foreign expression on her face.

"You're... sorry...?!" he growled incredulously, fury building up inside. "After all you've done, you have the gall to say that to my face?!"

Velvet gave him an even look in response. "Would you prefer that I didn't? That I tried to devour you instead for getting in my way like the hellion I am?"

She shook her head quietly. "I don't regret a thing I did. Knowing what I do now, I wouldn't do a single thing differently." She raised her demonic arm before her, watching as the surface of the disgusting appendage undulated with ever-present hunger. "But that doesn't mean that I'm blind to the suffering I caused."

Mikleo crossed his arms in irritation, tapping his foot repetitively on the stones. "...First you say you're a sinful monster, and then you go and say something like that."

He shook his head in annoyance, giving the hellion a reserved look. "I've been trying to figure you out for the longest time, Velvet. I have to say that at the end of it that I have no absolutely idea who the hell you are." he grumbled, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "...I just can't see why Sorey decided to save you after all you did."

Velvet sighed in exasperation. "That makes two of us," she muttered.

The seraph opened his mouth to respond but blinked as he registered the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching from behind.

Rose skidded to a halt in the entrance to the walkway, her narrowed eyes quickly taking in the scene of Mikleo standing beside Velvet. Evidently dismissing what she had just interrupted, the merchant jerked her head towards the marketplace.

"Mikleo, Velvet, time to go," she declared quickly. "Maltran's here."

Mikleo shot a glance towards Velvet as he took an urgent step forward. "She's in the city?" he demanded. "Where?!"

"I felt her headed to Alisha's villa." In a flash of green wind mana, Dezel appeared at Rose's side with his arms crossed, his coattails flapping in the artificial gale. He glanced at Velvet, his lips thinning as he noticed the demonic arm hanging off her frame. "You gonna help?"

"Of course she is," Rose cut off impatiently, beckoning the two of them forward. "Now come on! She's gotta be here for Alisha!"

Velvet nodded. "Let's go," she agreed shortly, flicking her left arm and dispelling her arm as she broke into a run.

Together, the two of them charged out from the sheltered pathway and into the bustling marketplace, the two seraphim following in their footsteps. Wind whistled in their ears as the two weaved in and out of the crowds, ignoring the affronted cries of the locals as they pushed and shoved their way forward.

"Y'know, you put up one hell of a fight!" The therion glanced briefly to the side before she ducked to the side, avoiding a slow-moving carriage as she sprinted past a throng of traders. Rose matched her pace, leaping off a pile of barrels to clear a group of children before smoothly resuming her run. "I had no idea you were holding that much sheer badassery in you this whole time," the merchant called.

Velvet couldn't help but roll her eyes in response as she leapt inhumanly high into the air, clearing a flight of stairs with her coat flaring behind her. "You don't have any hard feelings? I was trying to kill you all," she pointed out as she ran on, skidding around a corner towards the main thoroughfare.

Briefly, the two separated, Velvet choosing to run atop the roof of a bar while Rose dashed between the people lined up outside in the alleyway below. The two met up once more at the end, digging their boots into the rough cobblestones as they weaved through the crowds of the main streets in sync.

"But you didn't!" Rose answered as they ran up the stairway towards the upper level of the city. "No use crying over milk that hasn't been spilt, right?"

The therion raised an incredulous eyebrow at her over her shoulder. "That's... one way to look at it I guess." She shook her head in disbelief, lunging to the side to side-step a startled couple as they dashed through the wealthy district of the city.

"C'mon. The royal villa's this way," the merchant beckoned, turning the corner down a side alley. Velvet followed in turn.

The grand villa owned by the Holy Royal Family of Hyland stood solemnly alongside well-decorated manors of the district in the shadow of the grand palace, surrounded by elaborately carved stone walls that guarded its sizeable courtyard from view.

It took Velvet and Rose two leaps apiece to scale and vault over the walls, simultaneously landing in the grass below.

Sorey blinked in surprise, lowering his sword a fraction of an inch at their appearance. "Rose, Velvet!"

Velvet's eyes narrowed as she took in the scene in an instant.

The entirety of the Shepherd's group stood arrayed in a semicircle before the entrance to the courtyard, weapons drawn and at the ready. Alisha stood in front of them all, her lance wavering slightly in her grasp as she faced off against the lone hellion intruder standing before them.

Her regal dress billowing in the artificial winds of her malevolent domain, Maltran raised a gauntleted hand to sweep a few strands of magenta hair to the side as she held her pupil's shaky gaze regardless of the new arrivals.

"...Well?" the hellion prompted, her smile sharp and cruel as she laid her hand on her hip. "Has the pathetic princess knight of Hyland lost her nerve before the battle even began?"

The lance in Alisha's grip continued to tremble ever so lightly, regardless of how hard the princess tried to clamp down on it. Sweat dripped down her brow as she set her jaw in mounting determination.

"Master..." she implored weakly. "Why... Why are you doing this?!"

Maltran's vindictive laugh pierced the air as she tilted her head in amusement. "Why? The question you should be asking, dear princess, is why in the world would I not?" She shook her head in disbelief, tossing her armored hand in the air as if her words were blatantly obvious.

The advisor narrowed her eyes hatefully at the shocked princess. "...I despise you," she growled poisonously. "How I wanted to slit your pretty little throat the moment I met you."

Alisha's eyes widened horribly in the wake of the hellion's words. "M... Maltran...?"

"Don't 'Maltran' me," the hellion mocked, tiling her chin upward while shifting her body weight to the side. "To think, even now you can't seem to possibly comprehend reality." She let out an astonished scoff. "You never could, even when it was obvious what life really was!"

She lashed out violently into the air; hatred clear in her expression. "Your pretty little words and fragility make me sick to my stomach!" she spat, her eyes bulging in fury. "You could not possibly comprehend just how much I will relish tearing you apart limb from limb, like petals from a stem." Her extended hand slowly curled into a fist in front of her.

"I won't let that happen!"

Sorey stepped forward aggressively, his sword held in a tight grip by his side. "Alisha-!"

"Stay out of this, Shepherd!" Maltran narrowed her eyes in annoyance as she returned her arm to her side. "Unless you want to let Hyland's precious royal princess hide from reality once more behind you," she added goadingly.

"...Sorey... please."

Alisha's voice trembled as she spoke, her gaze fixed on her former mentor's. "Please... allow me this," she whispered quietly.

"Alisha..." The overflowing worry was clear in Sorey's expression. Nevertheless, he took a step back, lowering the sword in his hand with a stiff jaw.

Her eyes squeezed shut, the Princess of Hyland took a deep breath, steadying herself in the silence that followed.

"...I did not truly believe what Sorey and the others said when they told me of your actions and words," she admitted quietly, her voice carrying across the courtyard.

"You were on the one person who stood by my side heedless of the trials besieging me. The one who had taught me everything, absolutely everything that I knew – the one who had told me to never, ever back down on my dreams of the future, no matter the adversary. You were the one person I looked up to the most." She shook her head softly, blonde locks of hair swaying with the movement as she slowly slid her eyes open, staring down at the wavering hands gripping her lance.

"Now you stand before me, rejecting all that I have felt these past years of you being my master. Saying that every moment that I had shared with you in the past... That all of it had been a façade... That you despise me...!"

Her head snapped up fully, her teeth bared as she stomped forward, cutting her hand decisively through the air.

"That's what you SAY!" she cried loudly, her piercing voice echoing off the stones around them. "Yet I refuse to believe this farce for a single second longer!" Her metal armor rattled a she took another stomp forward, raising her index finger directly towards the malevolent figure of her mentor, defiance clear in her stance.

"'A knight's strength exists to protect the people' – you were the one who told me that!"

She shook her head furiously, blithely swiping away angry tears as she stared pleadingly at the monster that was had been her mentor. "Why would a heartless, cruel monster care about such insufferable things?!" she yelled, strength seeping back into her stance as she grasped her lance with both hands. "I implore you, master! Cease this farce this very instant!"

Silence fell in the wake of her demand. The sound of Alisha's labored, emotional breathing filled the courtyard as she stood there, staring imploringly at her master before her. Behind her, Sorey exchanged worried glances with Lailah. Mikleo and Dezel, who had arrived in the midst of Alisha's words, glanced at each other. Edna rolled her umbrella slowly, carefully studying Maltran's unreadable expression. Rose crossed her arms, her body tense and ready for action. Velvet looked on; her eyes narrowed.

A small, tired sigh rang out throughout the courtyard.

"I fail to comprehend how a person like you could possibly be so painfully thick." A strange sort of fatigue had overtaken Maltran's expression as she exhaled, raising her gauntleted hand to rub at her temples in irritation.

"Master...?" Alisha asked, her face rife with uncertainty.

The advisor gave her pupil a resentful frown. "You always did remind me of myself," she muttered. "An innocent little flower, rising above the rest to make the world a better place. Just as naïve, just as insufferably well-meaning."

She let out a scoff, shaking her head in disgust. "...I suppose my task was doomed from the start," she muttered. The malevolence oozing out of her being continued to bubble restlessly at her feet, wreathing her form in a putrid purple aura.

Alisha blinked uncomprehendingly. "Your... task?"

"To turn you into a hellion."

Velvet's words drew everyone's attention as the therion came to Alisha's side, crossing her arms. "She meant to fill you with hopelessness and despair with her words," the therion explained, meeting Maltran's eyes with an even gaze. "An approach I know well." She shifted on her feet, her eyes narrowing.

"But hellions are never just monsters, are we? There's always that part of us hidden deep within. The person we once were, begging for the horrors to stop." She tilted her head to the side, raising an expectant eyebrow. "...Am I wrong?"

Maltran crossed her arms in response, the metal of her gauntlets clinking quietly against each other. She stood there, mutely examining the therion as she stood there, side-by-side with the princess of Hyland with the Shepherd's group behind her. Somewhere, hanging from one of the awnings of the royal villa, a wind chime sang softly into the air, filling the courtyard with an entrancing, hypnotic tune.

"...I had failed to believe the reports that you'd joined him." The coat tails hanging off the back of Maltran's formal wear waved gently in the breeze behind her as she held Velvet's gaze quietly. "That the famed Lord of Calamity of the past now walked alongside the Shepherd." Her eyebrows narrowed as she took in the sight once more of the raven-haired therion standing between her and the Shepherd.

"...Tell me. Why?!" she demanded, taking a fierce step forward. "What good does it do such a woman as yourself to fight alongside such a pathetic boy?!"

Velvet softly turned her head to the side, running her eyes over the group of seraphim and humans, also awaiting her answer. She met Sorey's eyes for a moment, finding his determined yet welcoming face watching her turn.

"He's just another tool to me." She returned Maltran's incredulous gaze while waving a lofty hand in the air. "It's like I said. I'll use every tool at my disposal to achieve my goal, nothing more."

Behind her, Sorey let out a nervous chuckle.

"H-hey, Velvet?" he began with a hesitant grin. "Could you maybe stop calling me a-Yowch!!" The Shepherd hissed in pain as he ducked away from Edna's umbrella as she jabbed it towards him again. "Edna?" he yelped. "What gives?!"

The earth seraph gave him a look as she returned her umbrella to her shoulder. "Just shut up," she growled. "We have more important things to deal with than keeping your microscopic ego intact."

Despite herself, Lailah, standing by Sorey's side, let out a soft giggle. "...Yes, we must be sure to count our blessings," she agreed sagely, holding an index finger up to her smile. "After all, we did agree that Velvet was not one to be put on Sorey's leash, despite his arguments to the contrary."

"Wh-what?! Lailah, you know I never said anything like that! ...Can you two please stop giggling?!"

Velvet just rolled her eyes, ignoring the blustering Shepherd's words as she held Maltran's unreadable gaze. By her side, Alisha returned her lance to the upright position. The metal tip of the weapon pole dug into the grass underneath with a soft thud as she stepped forward.

"Master, please," she began softly, earnestly, imploring the older woman with pleading eyes. "There is no reason as to why you must do this. Sorey has a dream of saving this world. Of making things better. Of building a world in which all beings can coexist." She glanced at the hellion by her side, a small, encouraging smile falling on her face.

"'A knight's strength exists to protect the people,"' she repeated proudly, strength infusing her words as she held a fist to her chest. "Truly, as a knight, you must see the appeal of working by his side – hellion or not!" She took an impassioned step forward, extending an open palm out to her master.

"Maltran, please!" she begged.

Her words echoed off the tall stone walls surrounding the courtyard in the silence that followed. The wind chime of the villa continued to sing as a gentle breeze blew in through the closed gate, rustling the royal advisor's jacket and hair as she stood there silently, staring impassively at the princess.

Suddenly, a small burst of mana erupted out of the ground before the closed gate, accompanied by the strange, weak whimper of an injured animal.

A small, grim smile slowly began to spread on Maltran's face. She raised her gauntleted hand and pushed a few stray strands of hair out of the way as she shifted casually on her feet. "The strength of your conviction is impressive as always, Lady Crowe," she remarked, tilting her head slightly towards Velvet. "I admit it – I did not foresee that I would be so compromised by my lingering feelings of the past as to be unable to accomplish my task." Maltran shook her head softly, resting her hand on her hip.

"...But ideals are just ideals. Nothing more." She returned her gaze to Alisha; a disquiet expression on her face.

"My failure will not hinder my Lord's plans, merely slow them down," she stated with dark conviction. "In the end, all of you will have no chance at stopping the coming storm, regardless of what pretty notions or dreams you hold."

Her eyes slid past her former pupil to meet the Shepherd's, her smile deepening ominously.

"A reckoning is coming, Shepherd," she declared, taking a step back. "My Lord is going to take back what is rightfully his. You will stand no chance, mark my words."

The wolf pup seraph that had arrived collapsed weakly onto the ground before them all with a hitching wheeze, unable to stay standing on his paws for a second longer. Burn marks riddled the animal's fur coat, the wounds barely scabbed over with some still oozing blood. He let out a low, weakened keel, lifting his head just high enough to meet Sorey's eyes.

Maltran turned away as the rest of the group rushed in to help the wounded seraph, raising her hands and gathering the malevolence simmering at her feet in preparation for her departure.

Alisha took an urgent step forward, panic in her eyes as she reached out towards the hellion. "Wait-!"

Velvet's hand gently yet firmly grasped Alisha's wrist, stopping her from going any further.

"Don't," she said shortly, answering the princess's desperate expression. She looked up and met Maltran's eyes, her lips drawn into a thin, knowing line. "...She's made her choice."

"Verily." Maltran agreed in kind, turning to face the two of them as the malevolence began to rise, consuming her body from the ground up.

Her eyes held a strange quality to them as she held her former pupil's gaze. In the background, the group hurriedly began the initiate healing artes on the fallen seraph, who let out pained whimpers in response.

"...Alisha." The advisor's words were surprisingly soft as she addressed the princess. "Know that in the end," she muttered, "humanity will always fail you. It is simply in their nature." She pursed her lips, her eyes growing distant.

She shook her head as the malevolence continued to engulf her form. "...If you knew what was best for you, you'd forget about the Shepherd, Hyland, Rolance, and find some small town to live a good life up until the end." She shook her head, a strange expression on her face. "For what he is planning... will be the end of your dreams of peace."

When Alisha opened her mouth to respond, the advisor smiled in exasperation. "But of course, you won't," she interrupted dryly, shaking her head again fondly.

"...You always were a stupid, insufferable princess."

With those final words, the hellion was engulfed fully in malevolence, vanishing from the courtyard in the blink of an eye and leaving no trace behind. Tears shone in Alisha's eyes as she stared helplessly at the place where Maltran had been standing, her master's parting words echoing in her mind over and over again.

She blinked out of her stupor the moment Velvet released her wrist, rushing over to where the wolf pup seraph laid surrounded by the group.

"Hawk!" The therion slid to a stop beside Mikleo, bending over and cradling the seraph's head gently in her hands. "What happened?" she asked urgently, furrowing her brow as she took in the extent of his injuries.

The wolf seraph keeled as he stared up weakly at her, recognition clear in his glazed eyes. His tail twitched slightly underneath him as he let out pained whine.

Velvet's eyes snapped to Mikleo. "His injuries," she prompted shortly, her tone of voice brooking no nonsense. "How are they?"

Taken aback by the therion's intensity, the water seraph cleared his throat, returning his attention to the wounded pup. "...It's a miracle he's still standing," he replied, his narrowed eyes reflecting the bright flare of his healing artes as he ran his hands across the animal's body. "Burns, lacerations, a broken leg. Some of the injuries are up to a week old, while others appear to be very recent."

At the information, Velvet's eyebrows furrowed.

Standing beside her, Sorey's eyes were pained at the sight of the seraph's wounds. His eyes widened abruptly as he made the connection. "That's right, Hawk is Leo's seraph!" he remembered with surprise. "Why would he be all the way here in Hyland?!"

At the sound of his master's name, Hawk abruptly forced his eyes open, letting out a pained snarl as he rolled himself to his paws, heedless of the pain racking his body.

Dezel stepped forward immediately. "Hey!" he growled, reaching down towards the pup. "The hell do you think you're-!?"

"Don't touch him." Velvet's response was terse.

The wind seraph's teeth bared angrily as he cast an incredulous look at the hellion. "What?" he seethed, gesturing urgently towards the injured animal stumbling to his feet. "Can't you see the state that animal is in?!"

The therion shot him a dangerous glare in response. "He has something to show us," she growled, rising to her feet to face the seraph fully. "Let him."

Dezel's scowl deepened as he tensed his body in response.

Rose purposefully stepped in between the two, crossing her arms with a frown on her face. "Save the bickering for later – he's already off." She turned and gestured towards where the wolf had been standing. The seraph had already transported himself to the entrance to the courtyard in a burst of wind mana, still wavering on his feet. "Let's hurry up and follow him!"

Velvet nodded sharply, turning and breaking into a run after the seraph, who responded by teleporting once more, disappearing out of view.

Fury clear in his stance, Dezel gritted his teeth and followed suit, using the wind mana at his fingertips to aid his flight. Rose exchanged glances with Alisha and Sorey before the rest of the group followed in suit, racing after the injured seraph.

---​

Far below the lush neighborhoods of the wealthy residents of the city, in a secluded park down by the water's edge, a pair of invading knights leaned tiredly against the trunk of a tree – soaking wet and exhausted.

"See...?" Leo let out a tired chuckle, allowing his head fall back heavily upon the trunk of the tree as he tried to catch his breath. "Told you I was the better swimmer," he breathed triumphantly, half-heartedly wiping the droplets of water off his glasses.

"This was hardly a fair competition," his companion, Captain Sergei of the Platinum Knights, argued, sliding his eyes shut and focusing on ignoring the searing pain of his wounds. "Regardless, my skills were sufficient enough to reach the other side, correct? I believe that is all that matters in this case." he pointed out tiredly, dry smile on his face.

The other man frowned. "You nearly passed out halfway there!" he exclaimed, wincing with a hiss as pain shot up his leg in response to his agitation. He grunted, carefully readjusting his posture so as not to agitate his wound further. "If I hadn't lugged you over to the shore, you totally would've drowned."

"...Be that as it may, I do believe that would be a fair trade for when I saved your life back in the capital." Sergei replied after a pause, reaching up with his gloved hand to wipe the sweat dripping off his brow, inadvertently wiping more lake water onto his forehead.

Leo's expression sobered quickly with the reminder. "...Yeah. Fair enough," he replied with a sigh.

Together, the two men laid there in joint exhaustion, slowly calming the frantic rates of their breathing as they listened to the sounds of their surroundings. The soft lapping of the lake waters down by the water's edge continued in the silence, accompanied by the gentle chiming of a wind chime somewhere among the trees of the secluded park. Beyond the walls, the bustling activity of the Hyland capital could be heard – a constant reminder that they were in enemy territory.

"...But boy you are heavy." Leo sighed tiredly, running a hand through his soaking wet hair. "There was a point back there where I thought we seriously were both gonna drown. You gain some weight lately?"

Sergei's eyebrow twitched.

"Leo!" he growled angrily, heedless of the pain shooting up his body. "Am I to remind you that I am your commanding officer!? That sort of lowly slander will not be tolerated in this institution of honor! Understood?!"

Leo jerked back in panic in the face of Sergei's fury. "Y-y-yes sir!" he crowed meekly, shrinking away from the furious captain. "Not fat, sir! You're as skinny as an athlete, sir!"

Sergei's expression only darkened more. "The term you seek, knight," he growled dangerously, "is of medium build. Furthermore, if you insinuate that I am anything less of perfect athletic statute one more time, I will have you groveling on the dirt, begging for mercy!"

"Y-yeah yeah, I got it, Sergei!" the other man stammered in a panic. "Just calm down-!"

"I am calm!"

Grass crunched noisily under a steel boot nearby, causing both men to jerk out of their argument and stare wide-eyed at the woman glaring at them both, her arms crossed with her index finger tapping repetitively on her right bicep. "The two of you had better answer why you're lying here, beat up to all hell, in Ladylake of all places..." she began slowly, her voice deceptively quiet.

Her eyes flared murderously. "Before both of you are begging for my mercy!"

Both men turned pale as ghosts, all in-fighting forgotten at the introduction of an external threat. Standing down by the therion's side, Hawk gave them both a tired, deadpan stare, tossing his tail in agreement.

"A-ah, Velvet... I see Hawk found ya." Leo remarked nervously, sweat running down his temple. "Nice job, mutt-"

"Answer the damn question!"

The sound of rapid footfalls on cobblestone preceded the arrival of the rest of the Shepherd's group as they came to a halt, eyes wide as they took in the state of the two men lying wounded atop the grass in the park.

Alisha let out a soft gasp as she registered the blood mixed with lake water on their clothing and quickly moved in to help, Mikleo following close behind.

"Oh!" Sergei grunted in surprise as the blonde-haired woman knelt by his side, quickly moving to take inventory of the largest gashes and cuts plaguing the man's body. "You must be... Princess Alisha."

He winced in pain as the woman quickly dabbed away at a fresh cut on his arm. "Apologies, but I am currently not in a state to prostrate myself properly."

The princess glanced at his uniform, frowning in confusion as the hum of Mikleo's healing arte rang out into the sheltered space of the park. "You are... Sergei Strelka, Captain of the Rolance Platinum Knights, are you not?" she asked hesitantly.

The man nodded, instinctively attempting to puff his chest up with the recognition of his role. "...Yes," he confirmed solemnly. "Hence why the two of us could not simply walk through the front gates." He gave the princess a weak, well-meaning smile. "While our nations may not be on the best of terms... I do hope you will look kindly upon my trespass."

"But why?" Velvet demanded, kneeling down and roughly slathering gel on Leo's arm, heedless of the man's yelps of agony. "Why didn't you two stop and get treated?"

Sergei opened his mouth to answer but fell into a coughing fit instead, trying his damndest not to cough upon the princess of Hyland in the process. Once the fit had passed, the captain rubbed his raw throat and leant back against the tree, closing his eyes tiredly.

"...There is a storm coming. One will dwarf all else."

He slowly slid his eyes open, staring quietly up at the browning leaves above in disquiet. "We had to arrive as quickly as humanly possible to warn you all. That is why we did not stop – even after four days and nights of continuous riding. For the fate of thousands rested on our shoulders."

"Just what exactly is he talking about?" Edna demanded impatiently, tapping her closed umbrella on the grass repeatedly. "Tell him to just spit it out already!"

Leo sighed tiredly in response, turning his head to face the Shepherd standing beside Velvet.

"The Emperor is dead," he pronounced dully. "Long live His Majesty Georg Heldalf – new Emperor of the Rolance Empire."

---​

The brilliant rays of the sun setting across the lake, muffled by the towering stained-glass windows, basked the hallway in vibrant, distorted hues of gold and violet. From the main tower stretching up into the heavens, the entirety of the city and the wilderness beyond could be seen, slowly fading into darkness as the sun forsook the land once more.

A deep silence permeated the stale, tomb-like air inside Rountabel Palace, setting Sorey and Alisha's nerves on edge. As they walked, the princess noticed the Shepherd's hand twitching towards the spot on his belt where his sword normally hung and shook her head sadly.

"...I truly do apologize for this, Sorey," she expressed sadly, gesturing to the spot on her back where her lance normally hung. "Our disarmament was the only way to please the Chancellors so that they would allow this emergency meeting, given what happened the previous encounter. I hope you understand."

Sorey shook his head softly, a reassuring smile on his face. "It's fine, Alisha," he replied, letting his restless hand fall back to his side. "What's more important is that we get them to understand what they're up against now."

The princess glanced off to the side, drawing her lips into a thin line as she stared towards the distant setting sun through the stained patterns of the windows. "...Do you really think that they will believe us?" she asked softly. "A monster known as Heldalf who only the Shepherd can best, initiating a coup in their rival country?"

"I know," Sorey answered seriously, maintaining his forward gaze in determination. "But I have to believe that I can convince them." His voice was steady and controlled. "They know of my powers as Shepherd from the battle. They might believe me because of that." He shook his head, frowning in thought. "Regardless of the outcome, I have to try," he insisted. "I have to try and make them understand, even though they did such selfish things earlier."

She too returned her gaze forward, pursing her lips as she recognized what he was referring to. "...Lord Bartlow and the other Chancellors have never appreciated my efforts to stem the tides of war," she said dejectedly. "They despised what attention I managed to gain from the public, and frequently spend political capital to thrust me into situations normally unbecoming of a princess." She glanced at Sorey, urgency in her expression. "My point in all this is to urge you to be careful, Sorey," she concluded. "Tread lightly around the Chancellors, especially since they are now far more aware of your powers than last time."

Sorey gave her a serious nod as the two of them came to a halt before a tall, elaborately decorated set of double doors. "Thanks, Alisha. I will," he promised, taking a deep breath before raising his hands to click open the latch of the doors.

Together, the Shepherd and his Squire stepped through the entryway into the grand dining hall of Rountabel Palace, leaving the warm rays of sunlight behind.

"Shepherd."

Chancellor Bartlow's voice dripped with a mix of patronization and arrogance as he spread his hands to his sides, dryly welcoming the two from his seat at the end of the oval table in the center of the enormous vaulted chamber. "You honor us with your presence once more."

At his sides sat the men Sorey recognized from his previous meeting with the Chancellors before he and the others had departed for Marlind. The Military Chancellor Mathia, leader of the Royal Army. Professor Simon, administrator of the law in Hyland. Archbishop Nathael, highest ranking holy man in the kingdom.

All of the council members returned his gaze this time with wary looks, all now fully aware of the fact that he was not just a boy in a silly costume.

He nodded his head respectfully in turn, walking over to take the same seat that he had taken last time across the table form them all. He didn't spare the luscious platters of food arrayed out before him a second glance as he observed them all, carefully studying their expressions and demeanors. The aged floorboards groaned as Alisha took her seat near him – a spot that quite purposefully did not have any food readied for the princess.

"A lot has happened since the last time we met," Sorey answered Bartlow's greeting evenly, his every sense on edge and alert as he sat in the lion's den. "Thank you for agreeing to Alisha's request for an emergency meeting so quickly."

"But of course." It was the Military Chancellor who spoke, a sly grin plastered on his face as casually sipped from a clear glass of wine. "Anything for the gracious hero who brought about a stunning route of the Rolance dogs in the Basin," he toasted smoothly. "Our most sincere gratitude for keeping our grand nation safe from those inhuman dogs. You are a truly a hero worthy of the title of Shepherd."

Sorey kept his expression neutral in the wake of Mathia's words, regardless of the indignation that he felt because of them. Not taking the bait, the Shepherd nodded wordlessly instead, accepting the praise without responding.

At this, Chancellor Bartlow let out a low, intrigued hum, slowly leaning forward in his seat as he scrutinized the Shepherd's demeanor. "...I see you've grown, gentle Shepherd," he remarked in a pleased tone. "We may yet be able to negotiate an agreement, even after the unfortunate events that transpired during our last encounter."

The Archbishop nodded slowly in agreement with his words, running his eyes quietly over the boyish Shepherd's appearance. "Even now, the common people continue to yearn for the salvation of the Shepherd, pining for some easy way to have their every desire fulfilled while neglecting their own mundane responsibilities." He shook his head in disgust, reaching down to set his silverware down with a frustrated breath.

Across from Nathael, Professor Simon let out a grunt. "What fools," he muttered resentfully. "Without the of this vitally important council, this nation would have long since fallen to ruin." He raised an eyebrow pointedly towards Sorey. "Keep this in mind, boy, as you speak with us."

Bartlow threated his fingers together atop the table as he met Sorey's eyes once more. "It is because of this that the council would like to extend our offer to you once more, Shepherd Sorey," he expressed smoothly. "I ask that you be the one who will lead our flock. This time, not just the common man, but our armies as well in an official capacity." He shrugged reasonably, gesturing with his free hand in the air. "Naturally, we will offer you far more than what we did last time, now that we are... more convinced of your prowess."

With that being said, he splayed his hands apart, holding Sorey's gaze with a welcoming smile. "It is a beneficial agreement for all, would you not agree?" he asked smoothly. "What say you, gentle Shepherd, in response to our humble offer?"

Sorey sat there silently in the aftermath of the councilmembers' words, his jaw set tight as he absorbed what had been said. Through the grand windows on the opposite end of the chamber, the rising moon could be seen slowly appearing with the disappearance of the setting sun, hovering ominously above the figures of the corrupted leaders attempting to bribe him under their control.

At his side, Alisha's anger finally boiled through. "...This was the reason you accepted my request for an emergency audience, Lord Bartlow?" she demanded in a quiet voice building with fury. "Merely to use it as a convenient excuse to try and bribe Sorey again?!"

"Alisha."

Stifling her fury, the princess shot Sorey an apologetic look in response before forcefully settling back in her chair once more, fighting to regain her composure. In the silence that followed, Sorey turned his gaze upon the rest of the council members once more, his lips drawn into a thin line.

"There has been a coup in Pendrago," the Shepherd stated quietly, his voice nevertheless carrying around the enormous chamber. "A man by the name of Georg Heldalf has killed the emperor and taken the throne."

Surprise flitted across the expressions of the council members in response to his words. They exchanged glances with each other, registering the information and the widespread implications that it meant.

Sorey pressed on. "This man, Heldalf, is in reality a being of great strength and evil. A Lord of Calamity only one with the powers of the Shepherd can purify," he stated firmly, leaning urgently forward in his chair. "When he has fully consolidated his power as Emperor of Rolance, he will most likely attempt to invade Hyland. With his powers, the Royal Army will stand no chance to his might."

He shook his head placing his gloved hand on the table as he made his plea. "I came to you all to warn you of the threat that Heldalf will pose, and to ask that you attempt to seek a temporary truce with the Rolance Army so as to stand united against the coming storm." He moved his gaze from each of the four chancellors sitting before him, imploring each one to comprehend the gravity of the situation.

"Heldalf will be successful in seizing power. It's only a matter of time before he does. It's crucial that we allow people from Rolance to evacuate to Hyland before then and prepare for this threat as one."

His jaw tightened with emotion. "This is a chance to save thousands of lives." he finished quietly. "Please, consider what I have said."

Silence fell in the wake of his words.

Beyond the grand glass panes lining the opposite end of the chamber, night had fully fallen, covering the land beyond the lake in a shroud of darkness. High above their heads, the lavish chandeliers continued to burn merrily amidst the night, flooding the enormous room in a soft, amber light. Sorey and Alisha watched as the Chancellors exchanged low whispers in the wake the Shepherd's news.

"...Allow me get this straight."

It was Mathia the Military Chancellor who had spoken. "This was a matter that you thought was such importance that it justified an emergency council meeting?" he asked incredulously, splaying his hands resting atop the dining table. "Saving the citizens of Rolance? Have our soldiers drop their weapons and link arms with men who have killed their fellow countrymen and face off against some sort of bogyman from legend?"

A ripple of chuckles erupted throughout the council in the wake of the chancellor's statement. A chorus of amused, arrogant men laughing at the ridiculousness of the so-called Shepherd's words.

Gathered quietly in his lap, Sorey's hands curled into fists.

His own lips curled into hints of a smile, Bartlow began his response graciously. "We of the Hyland council thank you greatly for bringing this matter to our attention so quickly, Shepherd," he expressed gratefully, his eyes hard and calculating. "We have little reason to doubt your words, given your own demonstrable powers and proven character as seen these past few months. It is undeniable that you are aware of a different world than ours – of things that we cannot comprehend."

"Then you must listen to him!" Alisha insisted fiercely as the Chancellor touched upon her very reasoning. "Sorey has clashed blades with the Lord of Calamity! If he says that we must, then we must follow our Shepherd, let we fall prey to a darkness that we cannot see."

"Have you not listened to a word we've said?!" Professor Simon shouted, slamming a palm on the dining table. "The world doesn't work like some sort of fantasy land from the stories. Did you two honestly think you'd be able to saunter in here, tell us to drop the war effort that has been ongoing for centuries, because you said so?!"

The archbishop nodded gravely, his eyes carefully studying Sorey's expression from across the table. "However much truth there is within your words, Shepherd," Nathael said, drawing out the word mockingly, "we will not be heeding your ridiculous request. If this so-called Lord of Calamity has made its home in Rolance, all the better for us, I'd say. Those bastards deserve to get wiped out – each and every one of them. That entire nation can burn for all I care!"

"I wouldn't give a damn if this Heldalf was some kind of bona fide god." Mathia sneered, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms vindictively. "Nothing can stand against a proper military plan of an entire nation coupled with razor-sharp steel. Our military might has long since surpassed those Rolance dogs – we'll have no problem cutting down any threat on way to true prosperity."

Her teeth gritted, Alisha averted her eyes from the councilmembers in the wake of their statements. "...You are all truly hopeless," she whispered shamefully.

Bartlow returned Sorey's hard gaze with a reasonable gesture. "Nevertheless, to have the best advantage in battle, one must strive to upkeep one's knowledge of the playing field." He paused before continuing.

"...As such, we, as the last hope for the prosperity and well-being of our beloved kingdom, can, under no circumstances, allow you to disappear from our grasp again. I do hope you understand, Shepherd. We will require whatever knowledge of you have of this Lord of Calamity." His lips drew into a thin line. "You will give it to us, willingly or not."

With that, the Chancellor raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

At the signal, all five entrances to the chamber burst open, opening the way for a flood of heavily armored soldiers to pour into the chamber and block all methods of escape for the Shepherd and his squire. Sorey's eyes were hard as he stared wordlessly back at Bartlow's satisfied expression even as the knights surrounded him. At his side, Alisha shot to her feet to face the knights, cursing as she raised her hand only to grasp air where her lance normally hung.

"I'll ask you one last time, Shepherd," the Chancellor announced, his voice resounding loudly across the chamber over the clamor of armor as the sea of knights hardened their stances against the seated young man. Bartlow's expression was cold and determined. "Become true figurehead for the people of Hyland. Trust that we will be the ones to lead the kingdom into a new era of prosperity, long after we have vanquished the Rolance trash."

He extended a lone hand in a symbolic gesture, beckoning the Shepherd to his side with a self-satisfied smile. "Come, gentle Shepherd, and let us lead man to salvation, away from the darkness," he urged. "Together."

The clanking of metal continued all around as the armored knights stood restlessly in the path of the Shepherd, gripping their weapons with white-knuckle grips as they prepared to wrestle a being of supernatural strength into submission. At Sorey's side, Alisha continued to glance from side to side, gritting her teeth as she realized just how properly they had been corralled this time compared to their first encounter. Outside the windows beyond the Chancellor's smiling face, the last vestiges of light faded, relegating the world to one of true, unbreakable darkness.

Sorey's jaw tightened.

SQUELCH!

A flurry of cries and screams resounded from the entryway to the chamber as the impassive wall of knights abruptly broke apart in panic. Their eyes wide in disbelieving terror, armored men staggered backwards and away from a lone newcomer entering the chamber, their weapons and discipline forgotten in the face of a true, real life monster.

"Wh-what the hell?! That's...!"

"A m-m-monster!"

"DEMON!"

"Get back! Get back!"

Velvet Crowe's boots clinked noisily atop the floorboards as she strolled into the dining room of the Rountabel Palace, her serrated, pulsating claw hanging clearly at her side. Her black jacket and long hair billowed out behind her, wreathing her in a truly demonic form in the midst of her unleashed resonant domain. She ignored the dozens of panicking men tripping over themselves to get out of her way as she strolled into the room, her putrid claw oozing malevolence into the air beside her.

She came to a halt and gave the seated Shepherd an expectant look, heedless of the terrified whispers coming from behind.

"...We done here?" she asked, shifting on her feet impatiently.

Sorey nodded soberly, giving the therion a small, thankful smile. "We are," he replied quietly. "Thank you, Velvet."

He stood quietly, his chair rattling on the floorboards below as he faced the wide-eyed council with a deeply saddened expression. "...Chancellors, thank you for listening to what I had to say." His eyes were hard as he bore into the gazes of each and every one of them, his jaw set with frustration. "I see now that it was hopeless to try and reason with you all to begin with," he admitted sadly. "I must decline your offer, once more."

His eyes bulging in fury and emotion, Bartlow forcefully stood from his chair. "The hell is this!?" he spat, staring in disgust at Velvet's arm.

"You're commiserating with monsters! What kind of 'gentle Shepherd' would stand with an abomination like that?!" The Chancellor wrenched his trembling index finger forward in fury, pointing squarely at Alisha standing beside them. "Capture the princess! He won't do anything with her life in danger!" he roared, spurring the dozens of knights scattered about the room into action.

Without hesitation, Velvet spun around and intercepted the nearest incoming knight with her claw, bashing him helplessly off to the side like a doll.

CRASH!

"Go ahead and try!" the therion snarled, holding her pulsating claw at a low ready as she stood between the knights and Alisha. "I'll devour anyone who gets in my way." At her side, her enormous claw squelched audibly as she curled it into a fist.

"Have you all forgotten your oaths?!" Bartlow howled, slashing his arm furiously through the air. "I am the voice of the King himself! These are traitors of the crown, here to bring ruin upon us all! The False Shepherd, the Traitor Princess, and their bitch monster!" He stomped forward, screaming at the knights at the top of his lungs.

"KILL THEM ALL!"

Spurred on by the Chancellor's words, the knights slowly reorganized themselves, falling into an encircling formation and slowly advancing upon the three intruders, heedless of their fears.

Velvet clicked her tongue in annoyance, lowering her stance in preparation for battle. "Don't say I didn't warn you..." she muttered darkly.

Sorey shot her a meaningful glance. "Velvet." he said quietly.

The therion shrugged, slowly curling and uncurling her claw at her side as the knights closed in. "If it comes down to it, I won't hold back," she reaffirmed, carefully gauging the strength of each of her enemies. "That's a promise."

"You won't need to." Alisha reassured her, stepping to their side. "Get ready."

The three of them formed up ranks in anticipation, readying themselves as the overwhelming number of knights closed in upon them.

...BOOM!

Violent explosions abruptly erupted amidst the darkness outside, lighting up the night with blinding multicolored flashes of mana. Fire bells rang out throughout the night as the denizens of Rountabel palace were thrust into chaos. While the planks flooring of the great hall rattled violently underfoot, Sorey took a step forward and he lifted a hand emblazoned with the emblem of the Shepherd, his eyes narrowed.

"Let's go, guys!" he yelled, unleashing his power.

BANG!

An enormous wave of power thrust out from his outstretched palm, sending a wave of foreign power that scattered the unsuspecting men in plain disarray. As one, the False Shepherd, the disgraced princess, and the fabled Calamity burst into action, charging into the midst of rattled knights with righteous wrath amidst thick plumes of dust and debris.

Sorey smoothly pivoted his body as he slipped inside guard of his dazed opponent, smoothly disarming him of his lance before sweeping his feet out from under him, sending him crashing down upon the wood flooring below. His eyes flaring with mana, the Shepherd spun around, lifting one hand to unleash a wave of flame in front of him to sear three additional attackers while using the other to toss the lance off to the side.

Alisha caught the lance just in time to parry the stabbing swords of two knights, the steel weapons glancing off each other with an ever-familiar ear-piercing squeal. Letting out a furious cry, the princess tore her lance around in the blink of an eye, smashing the blunt handle into his helmet. Before the latter of the two could take full advantage of her open guard, she expertly manipulated her spear into a two-handed grip, using it to deflect his incoming overhead swing.

CLANG!

Velvet's gauntlet blade grated noisily as she flicked the sword out of her opponent's hand, retaliating with a sweep of her foot, sending him crashing down onto the ground. Preserving her spinning momentum, the therion wrenched her claw through the air with a vicious snarl, carving an entire squad of knights out from the enormous group before her. Those unfortunate enough to get caught up in her slash were sent flying across the entire length of the hall, crashing noisily atop each other beside the flinching councilmen watching the battle transpire.

The loud clanking of armor alerted her to the charge of a separate squad of knights, bravely lunging forward regardless of the sort of foe they were approaching. She glanced over her shoulder at them with narrowed eyes.

"SEVERING WIND!"

The entire squad was blown off their feet and sent skidding into the opposite wall as the Shepherd intercepted them, his cloak billowing out from behind him in the wake of the artificial gusts surging from his palm. Without slowing down, he pivoted to the left, his boots scratching on the wood below as he sidestepped the stab of a spearman.

Alisha's lance smashed into the side of the offending man's helmet from behind, sending him toppling down onto the ground. Without sparing Sorey a glance, the princess smoothly pivoted her lance, expertly manipulating the weapon to parry another spearman as an additional squad attempted to once more take her into custody.

To her side, Sorey grunted as he crossed blades with a man wearing armor designating him as a captain, focusing deeply as he pivoted his own stolen sword in tune to his opponent's strikes. With a yell, he shoved the man off him and gave himself space to breathe, narrowing his eyes as he gauged his opponent. He cursed internally as a second captain ran up from the side, facing off against him as well. His free hand clenched as he welled up the mana once more, trying to establish non-lethal levels within himself.

Velvet's boots clanked loudly atop the wood plans as she came to a halt beside Sorey, her eyes narrowed as she too faced off against the two captains. They stood wordlessly shoulder-to-shoulder against their foes, the therion wielding her enormous claw while the Shepherd curled his gloved hand.

All around them, injured and unconscious knights littered the floor alongside strewn weapons and fallen armor parts. The ringing of steel continued in the background as Alisha dealt with the few remaining knights, sweat dripping down her brow as she slammed her lance against her fellow countryman with righteous fury. All the while the explosions continued to rattle the surrounding stones, sending plumes of dust to periodically shower down upon the previously pristine flooring below.

At an unspoken signal, the four combatants launched into battle.

Velvet and Sorey moved in complementary grace as they met the strikes of their respective foes amidst the desecrated hall of Rountabel Palace. Their blades clashed rhythmically amidst the echoing chamber, punctuated by the asynchronous footfalls upon the wooden underfoot alongside the clanking armor of their opponents.

The therion's claw tore through the air and forced her opponent to retreat with poorly concealed panic despite his training. Regardless, once her monstrous appendage had passed, he retaliated by lunging inside her reach in an attempt to force her to use her sword to parry. She replied by whirling around with the momentum of her claw, lashing out with her steel boot to deflect his blade off and propel him backwards.

"Damn monster!" the captain spat as he regained his footing, bringing his sword back to his side. "How dare you sully this place with your filth!"

Velvet fell back into combat stance, raised her gauntleted arm in preparation for more. "Keep talking," she replied callously; her eyes narrowed.

With a grunt, Sorey flipped the stolen sword in his hand, using the unconventional angle to easily deflect his own opponent's stab. Capitalizing on the successful parry, he drove forward with his left hand, uttering a cry as he let the mana surge through his hand towards the knight captain. He responded smartly by leaping out of the way, dodging the burst of flames that soared out from the Shepherd's palm. Regaining his footing, he charged forward once more, his boots slamming onto the wood below, only to ram his sword against the Shepherd's as he held it over his head in a two-handed grip.

"You think I'm going to just let you walk free after deceiving us?!" he yelled, his arms trembling in exertion as he pressed down upon Sorey's blade in fury. "I'll strike you down myself, False Shepherd!"

"I see." Sorey drew his lips into a thin line. "That's how you feel," he noted quietly.

Then, letting out a harsh yell, the Shepherd wrenched his sword upward, forcing the knight captain off of him with inhuman might. The man stumbled back a few paces, grunted in indignant fury as he arrived beside his fellow comrade. Together, the pair of captains raised their weapons once more against their foes.

CLANG! CLANG!

Velvet and Sorey watched as their opponents simultaneously collapsed onto the ground below them, both having been knocked unconscious by blunt strikes to the back of the head.

Standing behind Sorey's opponent and heaving heavy breaths, Alisha she glared down at the man she'd just bested with sweat dripping off her chin. "Shame on you all!" she cried, slamming her lance down upon the floor in fury. "To think you would all come so quickly to your judgements like blind sheep for the slaughter...!"

To the side, Velvet raised an eyebrow at the woman who had knocked out her own opponent. "The diversion attempt went well, I'm assuming?" she prompted while crossing her arms.

Rose grinned cheekily in turn, casually tossing her razor-sharp blades into the air.

"Of course!" the assassin affirmed, catching her daggers firmly as they fell back to the ground. "The other squads the councilmen organized have no idea that you guys are still here – the rest of the crew's leading them over to the northwest wing of the palace as we speak." Her expression grew serious as she gestured with her head towards the other side of the hall. "...But I can see this didn't so well."

Amidst the renewed silence of the desecrated hall, the four council members that were to lead the Kingdom of Hyland to prosperity cowered at the end of the hall, their bulging eyes fixed on the Shepherd's group in fear.

"T-to think that you would be cable of orchestrating all of this...!" Nathael stammered uncomprehendingly, the archbishop's eyes wide as he stared at Sorey uncomprehendingly. "You truly are a monster yourself...!"

Military Chancellor Mathia, leader of the Royal Army, held his engraved sword up with shaky hands towards the four intruders of the palace. "L-listen, we yield!" he cried weakly from across the hall. "You people have clearly bested us – just leave us in peace!" Another explosion rattled throughout the palace, causing the leader to whimper slightly before clamping down on his emotions.

Sorey's voice was quiet and solemn as he turned to face the group of men amidst the rumbling silence of the hall. "...When your army has been destroyed and Heldalf is at your door here to claim what he says is rightfully his, is that what you'll say as well?" he asked sadly. His boots thudded lightly on the floorboards as he stepped towards the huddled councilmen, a deeply disappointed look on his face as he confronted their wide eyes.

"I hoped you all could see past what you could not see and listen to me." He glanced off to the side; his jaw set. "...Velvet, do you mind?" he asked quietly.

The looks on the councilmen's faces grew ever more fearful as Velvet walked up to Sorey's side, her claw oozing tendrils of purple at her side. She raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the cowering leaders of an entire nation, holding her monstrous appendage out to her side.

"Not at all," she replied evenly.

"So... that's it, huh? Sic your hound on us and be done with it?" Despite the terror clearly gripping him, Bartlow swallowed and straightened his back forcefully, angling his chin up as the monster approached him and the other chancellors.

"...Then so be it!" he roared with surprising vigor, slicing his hand decisively through the air. "I'll happily be mauled to death by the minion of the False Shepherd rather than see all the power that I've built up my entire life crumble at the hands of some superhuman brat!" His fists curled furiously as he glared at Sorey with pure hatred. "Shepherds, Lords of Calamity, monsters and spirits – all that tripe! They're just more tools to leverage in my climb to power!" He spat, spittle flying from his mouth. "So, go ahead, do your worst!"

Velvet returned the man's hateful gaze, unimpressed.

Suddenly, Bartlow and the other three chancellors cast about with panic in their eyes as a foreign, unnatural wind began to swirl amidst the enormous hall, snuffing out the candles of the chandelier high above and plunging the world into a nightmarish darkness. The ground itself began to tremble angrily with the rumbling of an otherworldly beast while the air itself became corrupted with oppressively putrid miasma, making it harder to draw breath with each passing moment. They let out involuntary whimpers as the source of the chaos stepped forward, her hair and jacket rippling amidst the fury of her fully unleashed domain. Her eyes pulsed blood red, matching the hue of the undulating claw curling up into a fist by her side.

Amidst the chaos of her fully unleashed domain, Velvet tilted her head and raised an expectant eyebrow at the group of humans.

In an impressive show of synchrony, the four chancellors collapsed together on the spot, utterly overcome by their fear and terror. As they fell atop one another in a pile before her, Velvet rolled her eyes and uncurled her claw.

"That's... about how I figured it'd go," she said dryly, letting her domain fade from the world one more.

Silence returned once more to the enormous hall as the howling winds died down, broken only by the distant explosions and the creaking of wood as the others made their way over to where she stood.

Rose let out an intrigued hum as she gauged the therion's handiwork. "...Well, you left and impression on them, that's for sure," she remarked. "With any luck, they might take Sorey's words a bit seriously. Crazy the kind of stuff you can do for him."

"Indeed," Alisha agreed, having managed to compose herself somewhat in the wake of battle. "Truly, Sorey having the means to reveal the truth of the world to humans lacking resonance will be an enormous boon to our efforts."

Velvet sighed, dispelling her pulsating claw and waving the re-bandaged arm in the air in response. "...This doesn't mean that I'm the Shepherd's 'bitch monster,' got that?" she said in exasperation.

Sorey let out a loud sigh in response, running a hand down his face. "Velvet, not you too..." he moaned.

BOOM!

Another explosion rang out into the night beyond the windows of the hall, drawing the group's attention to the situation at hand once more. As a plume of dust rained down from the ceiling into the desecrated hallway, Rose's expression grew serious.

"...Alright. I'd say we're done here," she summarized succinctly. She glanced at the others. "We can talk about what'll happen next later – right now it's time to get outta here."

Alisha returned her stolen lance to her back. "Agreed. Sorey, we've done all we can," she stated, casting a sober glance at the fainted chancellors in the process. "Let us escape through the secret tunnels while the seraphim continue to distract the guards."

Seriousness returning to his face, Sorey nodded, his jaw stiffening briefly as he cast a glance at his desecrated surroundings. "...Yeah," he agreed softly. "Let's go."

Together, the four left the desecrated hall, leaving behind dozens of unconscious soldiers alongside the chancellors in the darkened room as elemental artes continued to rattle the palace in the distance. In their wake, the rising moon was the only source of light, remorsefully beaming its soft blue light upon the scene of failure.

---​

The sounds of their footsteps echoed endlessly amidst the enormous ancient underground passageway as they traversed the crumbling walkway over the deep, dark waters flowing below. Lailah's flame burned softly in her palm as she walked at the head of the group, illuminating the cold underground abyss with a soft, warm glow and lighting the way for the others walking behind her.

In the wake of the chaos that had occurred in the palace, the solitude and isolation of the desolate ruins seemed utterly abnormal.

Velvet glanced idly around at her surroundings as she walked at the back of the group, her eyebrows furrowed in thought. Down below, past the weathered stones of the suspended walkway, the darkened water rushed along at a furious pace to places unknown amidst the silence of the forgotten space. At the very edge of the light cast by Lailah's flame, the therion could make out strange, elaborate carvings decorating the far stone wall, their purpose and meaning long since lost to time.

The therion was abruptly jolted out of her thoughts as something jabbed her in the side, hard. She turned to glare daggers at Edna who walked alongside her with an equally murderous expression on her face, her closed umbrella held threateningly over her shoulder.

"The hell was that for?" she growled.

To her displeasure, the earth seraph responded by jabbing her umbrella forward a few more times into her side. "Stupid idiot," Edna muttered lowly, a fierce pout on her lips as she glared up at the therion amidst the dim lighting. "Stupid."

Velvet frowned, intercepting the latest jab with her bandaged hand. "If you have something to settle with me, spit it out already," she ordered, holding the tip of the umbrella high and away from her.

"Fine." The seraph glared up at her; an irritable scowl on her face. "I want you to know that the next time you try and kill yourself, I'll save you the trouble and do it for you," she growled angrily. At her side, her free hand furled into a furious fist as she looked away, squeezing her eyes shut.

"...I'm sick and tired of selfish morons like you thinking of nobody else but yourself!" Despite Velvet's hold on it, she still shoved her umbrella forward again in abject fury.

Understanding slowly dawned upon the therion's expression in the wake of the seraph's words. She pursed her lips, looking away from the distraught seraph.

"Edna... I'm sorry I made you worry." Her voice was barely auditable above the sound of rushing water. She pursed her lips; her eyes distant. "But even still, I won't apologize for my actions," she finished quietly.

"Yeah. And what the hell else is new?" the other seraph muttered, the energy slowly petering out of her as she stopped actively trying to skewer the therion with her umbrella.

The rushing of water filled the silence that followed as the two continued to walk, trailing after the group amidst the encroaching darkness. Two lonely individuals connected through the shared memories of an ancient malak that had once terrorized the seas.

"But... I'm glad you're okay." Edna's final words were almost inaudible.

A soft smile fell on Velvet's lips as she glanced back off into the darkness; her distant look returning to her face. "Thanks, Edna," she replied softly, her voice lost amidst the roaring of the underground waterway.

The rushing water filled Alisha's world as she continued to place one boot in front of the other with her head tilted downward, utterly lost in her thoughts. She pursed her lips, frowning as she stared endlessly into the waters below.

"If you're not careful, you might trip and fall in."

The princess blinked in surprise, lifting her head to find a water seraph walking alongside her with a concerned look on his face. "Oh, Mikleo." She shook her head thankfully. "Thank you for your concern. It is just that I am a little... preoccupied."

The water seraph crossed his arms. "It's about what happened in the palace, right?" he prompted. "Sorey told me about what happened. How the Chancellors refused to act on what he'd told them about Heldalf."

Alisha nodded slowly, her jaw stiffening. "That is part of it, however..." At her sides, her hands curled into frustrated fists. The princess of Hyland stared out into the abyss beyond Lailah's flame, frowning deeply. "...I became a knight to serve the people, regardless of my lineage nor how much opposition I ran into along the way," she stated softly, her eyes distant. "But now... I wonder if it ever truly made a difference that way, or if I simply made things worse."

His eyes narrowed in understanding. "You're thinking about what Maltran told you," he summarized grimly.

She looked away. "...'in the end,'" she quoted softly, staring off towards the distant wall of the passageway, "'humanity will always fail you. It is simply in their nature.'" She turned to face the seraph walking alongside her, a tired look on her face. "Now, here I am, a disgraced princess in the eyes of the Chancellors, destined to be denounced as a traitor heedless of all the effort I'd made to help people as a knight."

She shook her head softly. "As of this moment, everything seems so... futile," she finished dejectedly, returning her gaze to her feet. "That is all."

Mikleo was unable to find a response for that.

Walking at the head of the group alongside Lailah, Sorey frowned deeply, pondering the princess' words amidst the silence. He idly lifted his left hand up to the golden light, soberly examining the glinting of the golden emblem on the back of his glove.

"...The nature of humanity, huh?" he said quietly.

Walking by his side, Lailah cast a worried look at the Shepherd as he stared at his hand, walking forward amidst the darkness in the paltry light of her flame. Her lips drew into a worried line as she looked away, hiding the pain in her eyes.

Together, the group continued to walk amidst the roaring of surging water, listening to the sounds of their footfalls continuously echoing throughout the enormous, desolate space. Cut off from all they were trying to save.

---​

Birds chirped happily amongst the browning leaves of the trees lining the bustling street, basking in the brilliant rays of sunshine shining from the sun hanging high in the cloudless sky above. Traders and shoppers chatted happily amongst themselves as they walked up and down the thoroughfare, gossiping amongst themselves about the latest news. Amidst all of the chatter and bustle, nobody seemed to notice a few scraps of paper flying very unnaturally off the recently posted bulletin board by the water's edge.

In a shadowed alleyway in the market district of Ladylake, Velvet, Sorey, and Alisha stared blandly at the four pieces of papers held in Mikleo's hands.

"Is that... supposed to be me?" Sorey asked weakly, pointing at the strange triangular-looking shape apparently attempting to communicate the likeliness of a human with brown hair and a white cloak.

"I believe... so?" At his side, Alisha tilted her head, a finger to her temple as she tried in vain to make heads or tails out of the picture drawn underneath the text, "WANTED: Traitor Princess Alisha Diphda, for HIGH TREASON and CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE THRONE."

Velvet crossed her arms in irritation. "...Was this really the best they could do?" she muttered, glaring at the figure that was evidently supposed to be her, featuring a comically oversized claw the relative size of a mountain.

"Hey well, you've gotta give credit where credit's due."

The three turned their deadpan stares to Rose casually perched upon a barrel nearby who answered their reproachful looks with a helpless shrug. "C'mon, we broke outta the palace last night. They probably woke some poor sod up in the middle of the night and got him churning out these posters in bulk." She waved a hand in the air towards where her own face was drawn crudely on the fourth piece of paper.

"We Scattered Bones get these posters all the time, but they're normally a bit better since we wear masks... And those are normally listed for a lot less, too," she added dryly, pointing at the giant lettering at the bottom of the pages.

"DEAD OR ALIVE, 25,000,000 GALD," reported each page, with the exception of Sorey's which read, "DEAD OR ALIVE, 100,000,000 GALD. INFORMATION LEADING TO CAPTURE: 50,000,000 GALD."

Still holding up the torn pages to the group, Mikleo held his free hand up to his chin in thought. "...Looks like you guys really struck a nerve last night," he considered seriously. "This will make travelling around a lot more difficult with these pages plastered about the kingdom. Anyone could recognize us."

Sorey's eye twitched. "Who in the world is going to recognize us with these drawings, Mikleo?!" he exclaimed, gesturing imploringly at his own fat, angular face on the paper.

Leaning against one of the walls of the alleyway, Dezel let out a long-suffering sigh while tilting his top hat lower over his face. "...Good grief," he muttered.

"Indeed," Lailah agreed with a soft sigh, staring at the wanted poster decrying the False Shepherd in disquiet. "Now, everyone across the kingdom who might have doubted his existence will have definitive proof of Sorey's existence, and moreover, hold the impression that he not a character to be trusted."

Alisha's fist tightened as she held it against her chest, frowning deeply as she stared at her own poster. By her side, Sorey held a similarly grim expression.

"That's not all."

The group turned in at the sound of the new voice to find Leo and Sergei entering the mouth of the alleyway, serious looks on both their faces. Down by their side, Hawk walked alongside them, having regained use of all four of his paws.

"The False Shepherd has the head of a wolf, they're saying." Leo dryly waved a hand in the air as they came to a halt before the Shepherd's group amidst the shadows of the alleyway. "A giant, ten feet tall, with an army of monsters at his beck and call. A monster that took on the soldiers of Rolance at first, but then turned on Hyland when he got too bloodthirsty. And that's not to say anything of the monstrous traitor princess, the strange knife-wielding woman, or the wicked clawed beast he has at his beck and call."

Velvet sighed at length. "...This again?" she muttered.

Sergei met Sorey's eyes, shaking his head in sympathy. "I'm afraid it's true, young Shepherd," he confirmed. "The rumors of your escapades in the Palace and your role in the war have been besmirched greatly. The common folk are all eagerly telling their tales of the so-called False Shepherd, each more extravagant than the last."

"Well that's just peachy," Rose shook her head, crossing her legs atop the barrel. "Now what?" she asked aloud. "We tried our best to warn 'em in good faith, and we ended up as Hyland's Most Wanted. Anybody who remembered our faces will likely be looking for us for that enormous bounty." She shrugged helplessly, gesturing her hand in the air. "Sure seems like the whole world's against the Shepherd now."

A dejected silence fell upon the shadowed alleyway in the wake of her words. Beyond the shelter of the narrow space, life for the denizens of Ladylake continued, full of excitement and gossip over the strange new anomaly in their world. Beyond the narrow slit of sky above, the bright sun continued onward, heedless of the lives of those below.

"...Not all humans are stupid idiots, remember?"

The group turned in surprise as they found Edna entering the alleyway as well, irritably dropping the piece of paper that she'd been dangling over her shoulder onto the ground. Sorey's gaze went past the earth seraph and towards the man dressed in orange who had followed her into the alleyway.

His eyes widened. "Lucas?!" he exclaimed.

The leader of the Woodsmen Mercenaries had a wide, astonished grin on his face as he waved his greeting to the scene of the Shepherd and his group hiding in an alleyway away from public view.

"Hell, well I'll be," he chuckled dryly. "I thought I might've been losing my marbles when a floating piece of paper told me to follow it to the Shepherd." The man shrugged lightly, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised, going by all that fuss that's happening out there."

"The hell are you doing?!" Dezel snarled at Edna, falling into a combat stance as he prepared to blow the intruder away. "Don't you know they have a price on their heads?!"

"You don't to worry about this one." Velvet reassured as she uncrossed her arms, resting her right hand on her hip as she raised an eyebrow at the lone mercenary leader. "He and his crew are a bunch of soft-hearted sissies." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Isn't that right?"

Lucas swallowed and took a step back, chuckling nervously. "I can see you're as terrifying as ever, Lady. Look, I told you, didn't I?" He grinned easily, splaying his hands. "'If you or he ever need our services again, don't' hesitate to search us out,'" he quoted.

A small, grateful smile was on Sorey's face as he took a step forward. "If that's the case, then I'd like to hire you guys to get out of the city, Lucas." He scratched his cheek sheepishly, gesturing with his head towards the four pieces of paper floating in midair beside him. "But... I'm afraid our pay won't be as good, though."

Lucas huffed, crossing his burly arms with a wolfish smile. "Codswallop. I'd say my life should be valued somewhere in the neighborhood of 176,000,000 gald, don't you think? If you think about it, I'm actually coming one million glad ahead in this case! Pretty smart, right?" he grinned, chuckling at his own contorted logic.

Sorey chuckled uncertainty in response. "I... guess?" he agreed hesitantly, scratching his head in confusion.

Edna sighed as she let her umbrella cover her expression from view. "Dumbass," she muttered sourly.

Mikleo chuckled as he leant against the wall beside her, raising an amused eyebrow at the earth seraph. "Strange, I would've thought you'd be the last one in the world to ask for the help of some pesky human," he commented offhandedly. "Maybe you've actually got a soft side underneath all of that...?"

He then yelped indignantly as his foot was stomped on hard by an oversized male boot.

"So, with Lucas's help, we can escape the city easier." Sorey summarized, turning back to face the rest of the group amassed inside the cramped alleyway. There was a renewed spark in his eyes. "Now the question becomes what to do after we do," he posed aloud.

"Well, we're wanted criminals, right?" Rose drawled, slipping off the barrel and putting her hands on her hips. "So... people like us have to have a secret hideout, right?" she grinned. "We should go set one up!"

"That's some leap in logic." Dezel deadpanned.

Leo and Sergei exchanged glances. "That would be best for us as well," Sergei began, drawing the group's attention. "Leo and I escaped the sacking of Pendrago with a number of other individuals. They are all in hiding at the moment, waiting for our return." He turned to Sorey, beseechingly. "Please, Shepherd Sorey, I desperately hope it would not be presumptuous to request that wherever you base your own secret hideout, that you allow what remains of the Platinum Knights to reside there as well."

He pressed his armored fist into his chest, straightening his back in front of the Shepherd himself. "...With my city in ruins and my country besieged by malevolent forces, I come to you, Shepherd, in my darkest hour," he proclaimed somberly. His graves clanged loudly as he fell to his knees in a begging stance. "Aid me, and I shall respond in kind by following you to the very ends of the continent to help you bring Heldalf's reign to an end! This I swear... on the souls of my ancestors!"

Leo's face had found his palm. "Man... stop. You're embarrassing us," he muttered. At his feet, Hawk mumbled in agreement.

Sorey smiled softly down at Sergei in the wake of his words. "Thanks, Sergei," he answered genuinely, reaching down to provide a hand to the captain. "Of course you can come with us – it'll be great to have you and the others along."

The captain's eyes were gleaming in awe as he stared at Sorey's offered hand. "...You are truly one befitting the name of Shepherd, Sorey, regardless of what those filthy chancellors call you," he grunted, taking Sorey's hand and pulling himself back to his feet. He lent forward in a quick bow once more, this time including Rose in his gaze. "I am truly honored to work underneath the command of you and your lovely wife. Thank you both so much for giving me this opportunity."

Alisha eyes were wide as marbles.

"W... wife...?" She gawked uncomprehendingly between Sorey and Rose. Belatedly, the princess noticed Lailah standing behind Sergei frantically gesturing by swiping at her neck in a cutting motion. "...Ah, yes... Sorey's... wife," she finished slowly.

As the conversation continued in the wake of her words, Alisha silently tilted her head in further confusion, putting a hand to her temple in utter befuddlement.

Sorey shook his head, hurriedly changing the subject before it got even worse. "A-anyways, we still need to decide on where we're going," he pointed out loudly while scratching the back of his head.

"How about Tintagel Ruins?" Rose suggested, leaning against the stone wall of the neighboring building. "That place where I decided to join you?"

"Tintagel Ruins..." Sergei furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "Yes, I believe I am aware of those ruins, albeit only from a geographical standpoint," he stated, crossing his arms. "Nevertheless, with Heldalf encroaching upon Rolance and with Hyland's current attitude towards the Shepherd, being in a region close enough to both could prove highly beneficial to our joint future operations."

Velvet shifted on her feet, giving Rose a look. "Didn't the rest of your group stationed there leave because it was unsafe?" she asked. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"Well, yeah, we decided it was too much of a liability because of how busy it was getting in the area," Rose agreed, bobbing her head. "But the war's simmered down nowadays, for now at least. And besides, we have seraphim who can help us out with patrolling if all else fails, right?" she asked, turning to Sorey.

The Shepherd glanced at his followers, nodding thankfully in return. "Right. Then that shouldn't be a problem."

He stood up straight, taking in the appearance of his followers as they stood there within the shadowed alleyway, all ready to follow him in his battle and his dream. Despite all that had happened, a small, motivated smile graced his lips as he held his fist in the air, grinning at them all.

"...It's settled, then. To Tintagel Ruins," he stated before them all. "We'll find a way to take down Heldalf, and save Maotelus, no matter what the world thinks of us. Together."

The group nodded back; determination clear in their gazes.

The smile on his face widening, the Shepherd turned back around to face Lucas who was watching the scene with an intrigued grin on his face. "Lucas," Sorey prompted, nodding his head respectfully, "we'll need your help to do so. Please, do what you can."

"Hell yeah." The mercenary leader flexed his arms with a coy grin, boisterously declaring, "When you hire the Woodsmen, you better believe we'll get the job done!" He slammed his fist onto his chest with a loud thud.

"Leave it to us, Shepherd!" he roared. "You're secret's safe with us!"

Edna's umbrella lowered to cover her face even further as the mercenary's loud bellows echoed up and down the alleyway. "...Idiot," she repeated balefully.

Leaning quietly against the wall behind the others Velvet exchanged a wry glance with Leo as the conversation continued. Down by their feet, Hawk cocked head to the side in wolfen amusement, tossing his tail from side to side.

---​

That night, the city guard was suddenly confronted with a spontaneous wave of rowdy tavern brawls happening in almost every establishment across Ladylake, forcing the command to break guards in a panicked maneuver to keep the peace as anarchy seemingly threatened to overtake the entire city overnight. Amidst the yells, jeers, and thrown punches, nobody seemed to notice a small group of cloaked individuals slipping through the streets and out through the main gates, having rendered a handful of remaining guards unconscious.

As one, the six figures charged through the dim lighting of the waning moon overhead as they dashed along the length of the enormous bridge towards the shore, leaving the quietly simmering lights of the Hyland capital behind. The rustling of trees and the distant running of water greeted them as they reached the end of the bridge, stepping off the worn cobblestones of the ancient metropolis and into the tranquility and solitude of nature.

Steadily catching his breath, Sorey gathered with his fellow accomplices underneath the shadows of a tree standing just off the beaten path, looking back at the city for any sign of alarm. Yet Ladylake still sat atop the darkened waters, slumbering in peace and quiet amidst the night same as always, unaware that the False Shepherd had managed to escape past its hallowed walls.

"...Well, that's that, then."

The group turned away from the city as Leo, Sergei, and Hawk stepped away from the rest of them, determination clear in their expressions. "We need to swing by where the others are hiding," Leo explained, hefting the travelling pack hanging on his shoulders. "It's a bit outta the way, but it shouldn't take too long – we'll meet you guys there."

He shifted his gaze to the side, his wry smile widening. "...Try not to eat too much, Velvet. You'll get fat," he added slyly.

The therion glared at the irritating man in return, responding by raising her bandaged left hand ominously. "Why don't we put that theory to the test?" she growled, causing the man to pale.

"Young Shepherd." Sergei stepped forwarded, ducking his head in a respectful nod. "Despite all that has transpired today, I urge you not to lose faith in the will of humanity." His gauntlet clanked against his chest as he held himself upright in a proud salute. "I will do all that is in my power to convince you so. That I swear."

Sorey nodded seriously in response. "Thanks. Take care guys," he wished quietly, waving his hand in farewell.

Hawk yipped softly before turning around alongside the two men, the three of them headed their own separate way with the same end destination. With that, the Shepherd and his group of seraphim were left alone once more before the quiet grace of the slumbering city.

"It's all coming down to the wire, huh?"

Mikleo's remark was soft as he stared out towards Ladylake alongside the Shepherd. "The False Shepherd. Heldalf's reckoning. Saving Maotelus." The water seraph turned and gave his childhood friend a soft grin barely visible amidst the dim lighting. "We've sure come a long way."

"Yeah." Sorey's cloak rustled in the wind as he stepped forward, his eyes fixed upon the glistening beacon of the city before him. "...We sure have."

A wayward wind picked up softly in the wake of his words, rustling the nearby trees and rippling the lake waters below. Somewhere, beyond the rolling hills of the Lakehaven Heights, the crashing of waterfalls could be heard. High up above, the waning moon continued to drift aimlessly through the starry sky, standing vigil against the darkness encroaching upon it all.

Nodding to himself, Sorey turned around and faced them all amidst the darkened wilderness, turning his back to the glistening capital city.

"Let's go, guys."

Together, the False Shepherd's group of conspirators and traitors stole away from the capital city amidst the cover of night, disappearing into the shadows of the silent wilderness beyond. A small, peculiar assortment of personalities united by their drive to aid in the Shepherd's quest to free a god from his chains.

Together, they departed, destined to return.

---​

Author's Note: Hey all, still here, haha. Thanks for all the support these past few months – life has been getting in the way as usual.

As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all for the next one. (P.S. – Crestoria 964-964-227)

- CloudFry, August 9th​, 2020

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 24 – Omen.

"Could I ask you something, Velvet?"

"No."

"But-"

"I'm not answering another one of your stupid questions." She let out a long-suffering sigh of irritation, crossing her arms while tapping a finger on her arm. "You've been pestering me non-stop ever since we left Ladylake, and I've answered plenty already," she growled dangerously. "Drop it."

The Shepherd rallied valiantly in the face of the raven-haired woman's horrible glare.

"Please, Velvet!" he appealed, holding up the Celestial Record with a well-meaning, earnest smile. "What you've experienced long ago from a human perspective 1,000 years ago has the potential to become the most important findings of the century! Think of all of the information you remember from your time that might lead to monumental breakthroughs to current modern theories of that era! What you've already told me, the prominence of naval powers, the heightened human technology, the layout of the landmasses, all of it-!"

"Was far more than I should have fed your insufferable curiosity," she interrupted shortly, her left eyebrow subtly twitching in irritation as she turned away from the buzzing Shepherd towards the soft glow of the sunset.

The crunching of the group's footsteps on well-worn dirt was repetitive constant as they continuously climbed the mountainous trail, following the beaten trading path into the hilly regions with the setting sun to their side. A grand vista of rolling hills, untouched forests, and vast plains laid before them all; a picture of pure wilderness doused with the golden rays of the vibrant setting sun. A breathtaking view of natural splendor.

And then there was Sorey's face, blotting out the sun with his obnoxious grin.

"You mentioned the capital had stone walls to keep out hellions, right? Do you think you could give me an estimate of how high those walls were, what kind of battlements were at top, and what kind of mixture was used to adhere the stones together?"

He furrowed his brows and tilted his head to the side, bringing a single finger up to his lips. "...As it stands now, current academic research of the Graceful Asgard Period seems to support the theory of simpler, more utilitarian architecture than modern day buildings. If it's true that the capital of that time period was designed with such elaborate designs..." He refocused his eyes on Velvet; stars in his eyes. "That might even mean the complete disruption of a key period in human architectural history! Seriously, Velvet, you have to tell me-!"

Her left hand twitched murderously.

As the Shepherd continue to natter on and on about the most obscure faucets of history to the therion silently stewing in mounting irritation, Lailah and Edna exchanged amused smiles.

The fire seraph let out a soft sigh, her long hair waving amidst the gentle light of the streaks of gold in the sky behind her. "...How relieved I am that everything seems to have worked out between the two of them," she expressed warmly. "I suppose it was silly of me to doubt Sorey. He knew what he felt was right and acted upon his convictions, no matter how uncertain it seemed."

Edna's boots crunched repetitively upon the well-trodden dirt underfoot as she walked alongside the prime lord watching Sorey and Velvet up ahead on the mountain trail. "I guess they did end up sorting themselves out. Even if it did take forever." She turned and raised a keen eyebrow at the other seraph. "Besides, it looks like they're not the only ones who did." she added observantly.

Lailah's smile stayed as she bobbed her head in affirmation, her expression soft as she laced her fingertips together before her. "In the end, it seems that what I had considered as evil was in reality not so certain." Her voice was warm. "I had never truly considered what he had meant when he said those words that one time, long ago."

Her gaze drifted off to the side towards the setting sun, sadness falling upon her gaze. "Now, after all this time... I believe I finally do," she concluded gently.

At her side, Edna tapped her closed umbrella rhythmically on the dirt in tune with her steps as she walked. "'He' meaning Maotelus, huh?" she surmised.

Somewhere amongst the chaparral of the mountainside, a bird warbled a hypnotic call endlessly into the golden air of the setting sun. After a pause, the earth seraph turned to glance at the other, tilting her head inquisitively. "...You never did tell me what the deal was between you and Maotelus," she noted aloud with a slight, curious inflection to her words.

She belatedly realized her mistake the second Lailah jerked around with a manic, wide-eyed expression on her face, gleefully clapping her hands beside her cheek. "What would you say is a raisin's biggest shame?" she crowed.

"That it could never rise to grapeness!"

Lailah held her stance happily in the wake of her words, frozen in place while her eyes darted around to take in the reactions of her audience. The entire group including Velvet and Sorey had all stopped in their tracks to stare flatly at her, save for Edna, who had simply kept walking.

"Sorry I asked," the seraph muttered lowly as she tromped irritably past Sorey and Velvet.

The Shepherd chuckled as he too turned away from the pouting Lailah, following Edna in her trek up the mountain trail alongside Velvet. "Guess some things never change," he supposed wryly, perfunctorily sliding the Celestial Record shut and returning it to his pack for safekeeping.

Watching him out of the corner of her eye, the therion raised an eyebrow when she noted just how neat and organized Sorey's pack was as he eased his precious copy of the weathered tome inside. She let out a self-satisfied huff and glanced away with a slight incline on her lips. "That they don't."

Their shadows striding across the dirt and shrubbery to their left continued to grow longer and longer with each step as the distant sun continued to dip below the horizon, accompanied by a noticeable decrease in the surrounding temperature. A chilly autumn breeze briefly touched upon the mountainside, sending welcome chills down their spines as they continued their hike up the trail. All around, crickets began to come to life, singing their repetitive songs come the passing of the day.

"Say, Velvet?" Sorey prompted softly, drawing the therion's attention. He returned her inquisitive gaze with a well-meaning gesture. "I've been meaning to ask this. Why do you... want to save Maotelus?"

He winced at how blunt his words sounded. "I-it's just, you've done and gone through so much for him and I just was wondering if you... had a reason, that's all..." His words trailed off hesitantly.

Her steel boots crunched repetitively in the dirt in the brief silence that followed. She soon replied with a callous wave of her hand. "'Why would a Lord of Calamity want to save an Empyrean,' right?" she presumed with an uncaring shrug of her shoulders.

At those words, the Shepherd frowned and crossed his arms, turning his gaze forward. The chirping of the crickets in the surrounding golden shrubbery echoed in his ears as the words of a strange seraph suddenly came to mind.

"'The roles we play in this life are up to nobody else but ourselves.'" His distant eyes reflected the gentle sunset beyond the distant horizon as he stared out into the distance. "I don't think it matters at all what people used to call you. Names are just names, after all – there's nothing special about them." He gestured reasonably with his hands in the air. "When I look at you, I don't see some fabled monster from legend or anything. Just someone who cares deeply about someone, that's all," he finished with a gentle smile.

The crunching of their boots on dirt continued in the aftermath of his words. The indistinct voices of Rose and Alisha floated out into the cooling air as the two chatted about some topic in the distance behind them.

"...Looks like I did a good job after all."

Velvet's voice was laced with amusement as she crossed her arms, staring forward down the path before them. "Properly twisted that naïve boy in a fancy costume calling himself the Shepherd," she remarked, her voice dry with self-satisfaction.

Sorey let out an uncertain laugh, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. "W-well, I don't think anything about that has really changed, technically speaking..." He shook his head, his expression growing contemplative.

"But... I suppose it's true," he agreed, "I don't think the old me would have realized something like that."

She let her arms fall back to her sides she continued to walk by his side, her eyes growing distant as she let herself fall back into the stale memories gathering in her head. The crunching of dirt underneath their footfalls continued unerringly in the silence. Somewhere beyond the rising slope of the mountain, a wild animal uttered a strange call that rang out hauntingly amidst the chilling air.

"...Maotelus saved my life." Her words were soft as she maintained her stride, absently holding her hands together before her. "More than once, actually. He was the same – didn't care what I was called, nor did he care about what I was. All he wanted was to chart his own course through life. And what he decided to do was to follow me to the end, regardless of what happened."

Sorey watched as she moved her arms, absently tugging at a stray strand of bandage from her disguised left arm with a surprisingly gentle expression on her face. "After all he's done for me, it's only right that I return the favor," she concluded with a firm tug on her bandaged arm. "That's all."

He nodded slowly in the wake of her words. "...I see," he replied sagely. "I figured it was something like that."

Velvet raised an eyebrow at him. "That so?"

The Shepherd gave the therion a boyish grin in return. "Well, you might look and act kinda scary at times, but you really do have a gentle side to you, Velvet." He smiled, adjusting the straps of the travel pack strapped onto his back. "In a way, it all makes total sense that the reason why you did all that you did was because you just wanted to help a friend."

Her boots clinked rhythmically as she continued to walk, mutely glancing away from the smiling Shepherd to instead gaze outwards towards the fading light of the sun. "If you say so."

A forebodingly familiar glint slowly began to creep into Sorey's eyes as a thought crossed his mind.

Slowly, carefully, the Shepherd angled his steps so as to slowly get closer to her atop the mountainous path. "I uh, don't suppose you could do the same for me?" he began with a hopeful, innocent smile. "If you could perhaps listen to a couple of my theories, you'd be a real lifesaver-"

SQUELCH.

The entire group came to an abrupt halt as the disgusting, yet familiar sound resounded into the surroundings accompanied by a subtle wave of malevolence that dissipated into the chilly autumn air. Seraphim and humans alike turned to stare as Velvet slowly came to a standstill, her long raven hair blocking her lowered expression from sight as her enormous extruded claw dangled loosely by her side.

Sorey swallowed, his pulse suddenly quickening as a creeping feeling inched up the back of his neck. He took a step back away from the deathly still hellion, his boots crunching deafeningly amidst the eerie silence.

"Velvet?" he asked nervously. "Are you..."

"DEVOUR!"

A very undignified noise escaped Sorey as he dove out of the way of the therion's sudden and violent lunge, the sweep of her enormous claw barely clearing his frantically flapping cloak. With panic in his eyes and his heart racing at a thousand beats per minute, Sorey rolled to the side upon impact on the ground, barely managing to dodge the lightning-fast stab of Velvet's gauntlet blade. The razor-sharp metal slammed into the dirt so hard it sent sparks flying into the air.

"W-wait, Velvet!" he cried with wide eyes, scrambling backwards and throwing his hands up into the air. "Let's talk about-Whoa!"

He let out a panicked yelp and wrenched his sword out of its scabbard just in time to parry the woman's flurry of strikes from both gauntlet and boot blade, losing ground all the while. Then, her enormous claw whipped around and tore a deep gouge into his hastily formed barrier of mana, unceremoniously tossing him like a doll into the nearby chaparral.

CRASH!

Sorey let out an involuntary groan as he rolled to a halt, covered in torn-up dirt and foliage and staring blearily at his approaching attacker.

Velvet's eyes glowed a violent shade of red as she deliberately stretched her neck, her sword and her claw held menacingly at her sides and a self-indulgent smile on her face. "Did you think that once you knew my identity that you could get sloppy?" Her boots clinked noisily upon the dirt as she stalked towards the ditch of disrupted dirt and plants where the Shepherd laid. "You're still my tool."

Her eyes bulged violently. "And don't you forget it!"

With that she lunged forward with inhuman strength, her hair and jacket flaring up behind her like the wings of a demon. Sorey let out a panicked cry and scrambled out of the way, desperately using an arte to block against the fiery explosion that followed her impact.

Mikleo's eyes were wide and horrified as he charged towards the site of the explosion, adrenaline surging through his veins as he gripped the casting staff in his hands. "Sorey!" he yelled, skidding to a halt and taking in the horrifying sight of his friend fighting off single-handedly against the hellion atop the hillside. "What the hell is she doing?!"

"My..."

Mikleo was forced to do a double take at the sight of Lailah's admiring expression. "To think that Sorey would ask Velvet for a training session... even after such a long day!" the fire seraph remarked with a proud smile. "His diligence and dedication truly is becoming of a Shepherd."

Mikleo's eyes were wide. "What the hell are you talking about?!" he demanded incredulously as another explosion rattled the mountainside under their feet. "Sorey's being attacked!"

"Don't be such a drama queen," Rose dismissed at length, uncrossing her arms to stretch them over her head with a lazy yawn. "Velvet's just letting off a little steam on him. It'll be good practice for them both." She gestured with her hands towards the movements of the two fighters with an observant eye. "...Besides," she added, "it sure looks like this sort of thing isn't new for either of them."

Alisha's armor clinked as she came to a halt beside them, tilting her head to the side curiously at the sight of the Shepherd barely managing to fend off the attacks of the relentless hellion off the beaten path. "Such an intense training session reminds me of my own such sessions with Lady Maltran." She glanced off to the side; a subtly nostalgic look on her face. "How my body would ache after such battles... Truly, such methods are the best ways to learn."

Mikleo's eye twitched as Sorey let out another panicked yelp in the distance, followed by an ear-splitting crash. "...That's does it," he concluded, throwing his hands up in the air. "You guys are all nuts."

"Just figuring that out now, huh?" Dezel muttered, crossing his arms as he watched the fight unfold.

A series of metal clangs resounded into the air with split-second intervals as the two combatants exchanged blows in the blink of an eye, Sorey barely managing to keep up with the whirling chaos of Velvet's sword style. The exchange ended as she leapt up into the air, twisting around in the air to bring her claw around to bear. The Shepherd was hard-pressed to dodge out of the way.

BOOM!

As the shockwave thrummed underneath their feet, Edna twirled her umbrella and turned away from the spectacle. "I'm hungry," she blandly announced, stepping directly up to the first person she laid her eyes on. "You. Make me something, now."

Mikleo let out an exhausted sigh. "Why me?" he groaned.

Rose shrugged, turning away from the battle as well while glancing at the setting sun in the distance. "Suppose now is as good as any to make camp. I'm beat!" she groaned, stepping off towards a flat section of land.

Lailah covered her smile with her hand. "Not all of us have the strength and vitality of those two," she remarked with amusement. "Let us rest here for tonight."

"A perfectly acceptable arrangement to me." Alisha agreed readily, carefully lowering her travelling pack to the ground with a soft sigh. "I'm quite ready for some good food after a long day's travel." She flashed an eager smile in Mikleo's direction. "I'll be looking forward to what you decide to make tonight, Mikleo!" she promised.

As the rest of the group walked off towards the suitable camping spot, Mikleo remained, a pained look on his face as he watched the hellion continue to assault his childhood friend. "Sorry, Sorey..." he muttered before setting off to go prepare dinner for the rest of the group.

The Shepherd's yelps of panic continued long after the sun had set in the distant horizon.

---​

The small fire underneath the partially empty cooking pot crackled quietly, what little light it provided serving to hold the encroaching darkness surrounding the campsite at bay. Beyond the motionless shrubs surrounding the patch of level dirt, crickets sang in abundance amidst the darkened hillside, further isolating the group in their lone patch of light amidst a sea of solitude.

A weak, tired breath escaped Sorey as he slumped to the ground before the campfire, wincing with each slight jostle of his limbs.

The fiend that had done this to him stepped up and sat down beside him, calmly and wordlessly reaching forward to partake in the leftover soup in the pot. There was a rare sort of tranquility upon her expression as she did so, with a look of satisfaction at a lesson having been successfully dealt.

Mikleo mutely passed a bowl to the disabled Sorey, who glumly muttered his thanks and accepted it with a wince.

The sound of their spoons scraping against the wooden bowls filled the silence as the two ate, the rest of the group resting around the campfire in a companionable silence, listening to the sounds of the surrounding wilderness. Amidst them all, the campfire continued to burn, letting out soft pops as the fuel was slowly consumed.

"Everyone, I would like to say something."

The group turned curiously as Lailah straightened in her seat, visibly steeling herself with an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face. Her hands gathered together in her lap as she moved her gaze, meeting the eyes of everyone amassed before her. "The terms of my oath," she declared soberly. "I have decided it is time to announce them."

Edna's eyes narrowed as she cast a meaningful glance at the seraph over the simmering pot atop the campfire. "...Sure you wanna do that?" she asked.

"Right," Rose agreed with a frown, readjusting her legs in front of her as she leant forward. "Lailah, we kinda already figured what you can and can't say anyways," she pointed out. "You don't have to do this if it puts you in any kind of danger."

"No," Lailah replied, shaking her head resolutely. "In truth, this has been something that I should have been more forthright with ever since..." She trailed off, glancing across the fire at the lone hellion in their midst.

"Ever since she said she wanted to save Maotelus, right?" Dezel finished, leaning forward in his cross-legged seat before the fire. A strand of tall grass twirled steadily in his gloved hand as he angled his head in the seraph's direction. "Don't worry, it's pretty obvious that Maotelus is what your oath is about."

The soft orange glow of the cackling fire glinted in Velvet's amber eyes as she carefully studied the mute prime lord in the wake of Dezel's words. "I assume you won't answer if I asked you how you came to be the keeper of Maotelus's power, Lailah?" she asked quietly.

Lailah shook her head again, a sad look on her face as she returned Velvet's knowing gaze. "...You are correct," she replied softly. She turned her gaze back over towards Dezel, quietly threading her hands together in her lap as she took a calming breath. The crackling of the fire and the chirping of the surrounding crickets continued amidst the deepening night.

"In truth, the terms of my oath are thus," she stated. "As the holder of the sacred flames of purification, I am to never reveal the reasons for how this arrangement came to be."

Sorey listened on curiously, absently setting his empty bowl down on the dirt before him. Beside him, Velvet shifted in her seat, curling a leg up against her chest and resting her hands atop her knee.

Staring into the dying flames with a sad, disquiet expression on her face, Lailah continued, "Should I desire to maintain the oath, I must refrain from discussing any topics that may relate to the string of events that led to its existence, no matter how obscure the connection." She tore her eyes away from the flames to give them all a deeply apologetic look. "That is what I must do, no matter how of use that information would be to you all. For what it is worth, I am truly sorry for keeping secrets."

Sorey shook his head gently, a reassuring smile on his face. "Don't sweat it, Lailah. If anything, it's we who should be thanking you. Without your powers of purification, we'd be in a rough spot when it came to Heldalf and Maotelus." He held her gaze kindly, his sad smile soft in the light of the fire.

Edna's spoon clacked against wood as she returned it to the partially full bowl in her hands. "It's no big deal, Lailah," she commented, swirling the spoon in the bowl. "In terms of secrets being kept, you don't hold a candle to this one." She punctuated her statement by pointing a spoonful of prickleboar stew directly at Velvet.

The therion shrugged easily in response. "I won't deny it." She slowly raised her head, sweeping her gaze across the rest of the seraphim and humans arranged around the fire. "But since we're on the subject, I suppose I have something to say as well."

Her gaze returned to the fire before her.

"...What I know of what happened to Maotelus came from an acquaintance," she began, idly running her left thumb down the length of her fingers. "She didn't know the specifics, but what she did know was enough for me to see that the only chance I would have to save him would be by using the Shepherd."

Alisha drew her legs closer to her in her seat, her eyebrows furrowed in thought. "'Heldalf is holding Maotelus.' Those were your words when we fought," she remembered. She tilted her head to the side inquisitively. "How could an empyrean, the strongest of the five, I am told, be controlled?"

The therion's expression was distant. "Malevolence," she replied shortly. "Once he was corrupted, he no longer acted like himself." Propped up atop her bent knee, her left hand had curled into a tight fist.

Across the fire, Edna looked away, averting her expression from the light.

Crossing his arms while shifting forward in his seat, Mikleo frowned in thought. "...Then," he summarized, "Heldalf took advantage of that and brought him under his control. So not even the almighty Five Lords are immune to malevolence." His frown deepened as he brought this gaze up towards the hardened woman. "...Did your 'acquaintance' have more to say?"

Velvet turned her head and met his gaze. "Like I said, she knew only what she herself had gathered over the past few years." She shook her head, frowning in frustration. "I don't know what happened that led to Maotelus's corruption. I don't know how it was Heldalf brought him under his control either. All I know is that he is no longer himself, and that he's being controlled against his will."

Her hands curled into fists as she glared at the fire before her. "...That's something that I will never allow," she growled. "Not in a thousand years." Fury glowed in her eyes as she stared at the blaze, her anger intensifying as she thought back to who 'Maotelus' really was to her.

The one who had saved her.

Sitting across the flames to her, Dezel uncrossed his arms with a grunt. "...That's all we have to go with?" he muttered. "Something somebody said without mentioning a speck of detail?"

His words drew Velvet's gaze onto him. "If you're worried about the credibility of my sources, don't be," she replied with a wave of her hand, a dry smile creeping into her expression. "Compared to her, you're a just a runt."

Dezel floundered in an attempt to find a response to that. "The hell's that supposed to mean?" he eventually demanded.

Rose's chuckling filled the night air as she leaned over, nudging the indignant wind seraph with her elbow. "Does wittle Wezel want to throw a temper tantrum?" she cooed.

Dezel's hackles rose automatically. "Knock it off!" he snapped, jerking away from the pest as best he could. In doing so, he inadvertently slammed his shoulder right into the person sitting next to him, knocking her clean over and sending the bowl in her hands flying clean into the air.

A disgusting splat rang out into the campsite as the slopping brown liquid landed atop Edna right as she was steadying herself on the ground, having been pushed over by Dezel's shoulder. A lone trail of salty soup dripped lazily down the middle of her forehead, splitting in half at the bridge of her nose to run down her cheeks.

She turned to look at Dezel with a disquiet expression.

Plonk!

The group winced as the wooden bowl finally finished its graceful arc into the air, somehow managing to land directly upside down atop Edna's head like a hat. Her expression remained unchanged as she continued to stare unnervingly at the offender.

Dezel gulped loudly in the deafening silence that had fallen. "S-sorry," he grunted weakly, straightening back up in his seat. "I didn't..."

Edna didn't react at all to his words, continuing to stare emotionlessly at him all the while the soup trailed down her matted hair. The crackling of the nearby flame continued amidst the deathly silence, giving the air an ominous undercurrent.

Like a rat abandoning a sinking ship, Rose not-so-subtly scooted away from Dezel, exchanging a wide-eyed look with Alisha as she came to a stop by her side. Lailah shared a look with Mikleo before both of them similarly retreated as far away as they could.

Amidst the silence, Sorey cleared his throat while glancing to his side. "Is he...?"

"He's dead." Velvet's response was matter of fact.

Dezel glanced incredulously from across the fire at all of them. "What are all of you...?" he began.

"You..."

A shiver of terror ran down his spine at the sound of the deceptively quiet growl, barely audible over the sound of the crackling fire. He turned to face Edna's glare, her eyes slowly growing wider and wider in fury. Her gloves squeaked in agony as the seraph squeezed her fists tighter and tighter as if to wring an invisible man's neck.

BANG!

The surge of mana was Dezel's only warning before the world erupted violently with razor-sharp blades of earth, slicing up into the air to rend him to pieces. He barely managed to flash out of the way with the aid of his wind artes, only to lunge backwards in a series of acrobatics as more stalagmites erupted violently underfoot.

The ground trembled in terror as Edna slowly stood up, her clothes flapping in the artificial winds and a noticeable golden glow in her eyes as raging power surged through her. Still wearing the slopping overturned bowl for a hat, the enraged spirit let out a cry of fury as she slammed her boot into the earth.

"I'll get you for this!" she screamed, her voice echoing endlessly into the night.

All Dezel could do was race as far away as his powers could allow, running as what seemed like the wrath of a vengeful god bore down upon him.

With the ground trembling underneath them and Edna continuing to expel ludicrous amounts of mana into her artes, the rest of the group exchanged glances on the other side of the campfire.

Beside them all, Lailah lightly clapped her hands together, smiling gently amidst the soft lighting of the night. "Now Edna and Dezel are training too?" she remarked brightly, her eyes shining with the light of the fire. "Such fine dedication indeed!"

Mikleo deadpanned. "Lailah, your idea of 'training' is seriously messed up," he muttered.

As another distant explosion erupted, doubtless causing the wind seraph a great deal of grief, Alisha rubbed her eyes blearily, leaning back in her seat. "Dedication aside, we still have a sizeable amount of travel ahead of us. I would... argue that conservation would be a better approach so as to better reach our destination." Her words were punctuated by a drawn-out yawn.

"So yeah, about that." Rose piped up, daintily turning around in her seat to face the rest of them, ignoring the distant explosions rumbling throughout the night. "Would you all mind if we stopped by someplace on the way to Tintagel Ruins?" she asked. "It wouldn't be too far outta the way."

Sorey tilted his head curiously. "Something the matter, Rose?"

The assassin frowned, glancing to the side towards the slowly dying fire. "Well, I got word of some rumors that the others overhead," she explained. "It sounds like the Shepherd will need to get involved if they're true."

"I'm sure you're right, Rose," he replied, nodding his head in agreement. "Where to?"

She tore his eyes from the fire to meet his gaze. "Lastonbell." She paused, correcting herself, "What might be left of it, anyways."

The dying fire continued to crackle feebly as the night wore on, its burning fuel slowly being snuffed out until naught but ashes and the cold autumn air remained.

---​

The sounds of her footsteps alternated repetitively between the hollow impacts of worn leather and the comparatively quiet scraping of her bare foot thudding against the debris-riddled cobblestones below.

She pushed on heedless of her missing shoe, panting desperately as she stumbled through the darkened alleyway. Her right eye was squinted shut against the flow of blood seeping down from the reopened cut in her forehead, further obscuring her already tear-filled vision. Her green dress, pierced and cut near to shreds, flapped pathetically behind her like the torn wings of a downed jay.

She paused briefly at a junction of the unfamiliar brown-hued buildings surrounding her, glancing wildly over her shoulder and in every which direction. Her chest rose and fell rapidly with her frantic breath as she whipped her head from side to side, her dirtied, muddy hair trailing her actions. Beads of sweat poured liberally down the sides of her face, mixing with the dirt and soot coating her cheeks.

Her racing heart skipped a terrifying beat at the sound of clanking metal coming from down the smoke-filled alleyway that she'd come from. Her eyes trembling in sheer terror, she blindly chose a direction and stumbled away as best she could.

There was no escaping the smell of smoldering rubble that engulfed her senses – no avoiding the thick layer of soot and ashes that blanketed the top of every conceivable surface that she passed. High up above, barely visible beyond the swirling haze of smoke, the sky glowed an angry, unnatural orange.

It was as if she'd been plunged into hell itself.

Her bare foot smashed into something metal lying on the stones, sending a vicious spike of pain surging up her leg. She let out a pained cry, helplessly watching as the dirty ash-covered cobblestones raced towards her.

"Agh!"

Agony seized every part of her body as she crashed onto the ground, a great plume of disturbed ash and soot billowing out and engulfing her fallen figure. She stayed there in the wake of impact, fatigue overwhelming her sore body completely. Her left eye stung painfully as she weakly cracked it open, only for it to widen in horror at the sight of the body she'd tripped over. She instantly pressed her dirty palm against her mouth to suffocate her scream at the sight of the figures emerging from the smoke beyond the body of the dead guard.

They strolled down the street without a care in the world, their ragged armor and weapons clanking noisily at their sides with each careless step upon the ash-ridden stones. They laughed and jeered at each other's dark jokes, kicking at any debris in their way. She watched them come closer and closer, the sound of their clanking armor jolting her terrified heartbeat with each step.

"Ey, you sure you heard that comin' from over here?" one of the men grinned over his shoulder at his companion, nudging him amicably. "How much of that wine that you swiped did ya drink?"

The man he'd spoken to shoved him away. "Not as much as you did when you burned that fool's tavern down yesterday," he jeered in response. "Nah, I know what I heard – that was a woman's voice, for sure."

Another of the group lazily hefted the long spear in his grip. "A straggler, eh?" he grunted. "The boss'll be mad 'f we let another slip away."

The first man nodded. "Then let's be sure we don't. Look alive, boys!"

Their footsteps grew closer and closer; the clanking of metal growing louder and louder. She bit her lip, squeezing both her eyes shut while desperately willing her wild heartbeat to slow. Terror seized her entire body, causing her limbs to tremble against her own will. She swallowed her whimper and forced her expression to relax as best as she could as the metal footsteps came to a halt directly before her. Silence fell.

Unable to take the terror any longer, she ever cracked her eye open slightly, praying to whatever higher powers were out there that she would find an empty street before her.

Her blood ran cold.

Tusks grew out from out of both sides of his pudgy snout – one broken at the base while the other curved long and sharp. His puny eyes were locked onto her terrified eyes as he loomed over her body, a single string of saliva leaking down his inhuman chin onto the ragged clothing barely managing to hang onto his enormous muscular frame. His inhumanly wide mouth stretched into a leer as his right hand slowly reached down to the sheathed sword at his waist.

"Well, well," the pig monster purred in a guttural, inhuman voice, licking his lips while lavishly enjoying the untold fear in the woman's expression. "Looks like today's my lucky day!"

She opened her mouth to scream.

"Sure is."

CRASH!

The monster had less than a moment to glance up in surprise at the sound of the foreign voice before he was engulfed in an enormous, blood-red claw and was sent flying clean through the smoke. His similarly disfigured companions turned around in alarm and shock at the sound, only to be confronted by a violent barrage of elemental mana alongside the charge of three strangers.

The ringing of steel sliding off steel alongside inhuman bellows of rage echoed off the surrounding buildings as a strange yet keenly familiar woman knelt down on the street, angling her pulsing claw away while extending her other arm to her as she laid there frozen on the street.

"Nothing to say?" the raven-haired woman asked dryly in response to her wide-eyed stare, gesturing her offered hand casually even as the chaos continued around her. "Good," she remarked, taking her shocked silence as an answer. "Maybe now you'll stop trying to sell me stuff."

The soot-covered saleswoman stared dumbly up at the hardened woman kneeling before her as the surrounding unnatural battle continued to rage.

Eventually, she swallowed dryly and slowly brought her hand up into the air. "F-fine," she croaked, the vague hint of a smile forming on her face as she grasped the other woman's offered hand. "Y-you'll get a pass, just this once."

She let the strange inhuman woman gently pull her to her feet, blearily watching as the rest of her companions battled the inhuman bandits across the street. Some of the strangers, a young man and two young women, looked normal enough, but wielded strange otherworldly powers to aid them in their fight. Others seemed entirely inhuman in their grace and poise as they brought their opponents down through colored explosions of strange energy.

With the chaos and the completely unexplainable phenomenon occurring all around her, utterly defying everything that she had possibly known and believed up until that point, the saleswoman chose to calmly look away, returning her gaze back to the raven-haired, claw-wielding woman.

"I'm going to faint now," she explained matter-of-factly. "Please, catch me."

Velvet raised an eyebrow at her. "Sure," she replied.

The woman proceeded to do just as she'd said, her eyes rolling into the back of her head in shock and delirium as she collapsed. The therion caught her with right arm as she did so, arresting her momentum with a frown on her face.

BOOM!

The ash-riddled cobblestones rattled underneath Rose's feet as she darted to the side, the heat of the explosion she'd just dodged washing over her exposed skin. She adjusted her momentum to kick off a barrel lying on its side in the middle of the street with both feet, sending it flying forward while bringing herself around in a backflip. Her blades sang a deadly song as she brought them up in midair, unleashing them upon the hellion that had been charging her from behind.

The pig-faced monster let out a guttural howl of agony as it crashed onto the ground headfirst, two symmetrical gouges running down his exposed back. Rose's boots alighted atop the stones just behind it as she landed, raising her head just in time to see the barrel that she'd kicked colliding with the bandit that had been charging Mikleo.

"Score!" she crowed, pumping her hand in the air with a victorious grin.

Mikleo's clothing flapped noisily in the air behind him as he swiftly brought his free hand up towards the stumbling bandit hellion, unleashing a blow of water mana that sent it flying into the wall of the opposite building. He shot the assassin a thankful nod before resuming his arte, urging power to flow through his hands and into his conducting staff.

He jerked the weapon forward with a precise flourish and a cry. "Splash!"

An overwhelming floom of water materialized from the heavens to crash down upon two unfortunate bandits, slamming them onto the ground where they laid dazed amidst a puddle of dirty water. It wasn't long before their bodies were engulfed in silver flames at the behest of the Shepherd, his boots slamming noisily into the soiled water as sprinted past them.

He raised his offhand into the air as he ran. "Dezel!" he yelled. "LUKEIM YURLIN!"

His body was engulfed in a flare of angelic white as the armatus engaged, blades of neon green materializing behind him to aid him into flight moments before another explosion detonated underneath him.

BOOM!

His golden eyes narrowed in fierce concentration, Sorey swept his body out of the way of the explosion with the aid of the armatus. The haze of smoke in the air stung his eyes as he straightened out, slashing his right hand down to point at the hellion that had cast the arte in retaliation.

"Dark Star!"

His and Dezel's voice rang out in tandem as the brilliant angelic blades of wind flaring into a circle behind them, unleashing an explosion of wind mana upon the damned below.

The pig hellion wielding a casting staff in his right hand tried in vain to escape the oncoming storm, only to be engulfed in a flurry of razor-sharp blades of simmering green mana. He let out an indignant howl as he crumpled to the stones below, the staff tumbling out of his grasp and out of his reach in the process.

The monster's heaving breath was ragged as he blinked rapidly, willing his wavering vision to sharpen amidst the pain racking his body. He reached forward and pushed his forearm into the dirty stones under his body, fisting his hand and pushing as hard as he could with all his inhuman strength to get a knee underneath him.

He froze at the kiss of cold steel against his neck.

Alisha glared down at the pig-monster held at the edge of her lance, her chest rising and falling from the exertion of battle. She glanced momentarily to the side at the sound of Sorey's boots alighting upon the stones behind her. The rest of the group appeared to have all quelled their own respective opponents, leaving the soot-riddled street riddled with unconscious forms of purified humans in their wake.

"You... you weaklings think you're so tough, huh?"

Her gaze snapped back to the disabled hellion at her mercy; a frown on her face at his callous words. "You would say such a thing, even after such a battle?" she replied, keeping her hand steady as she held the blade to its neck.

The hellion raised his head to meet her gaze; a smug, confident smirk spreading across his wrinkled face. He let out an amused laugh, heedless of the dryness of his throat. "I can't wait until the boss tears you apart, limb from limb," he leered, trails of drool escaping his open mouth. "How I'd love to hear your deliciously shrill screams as you beg him for-"

"That's enough." The bandit's words were cut short with a harsh wave of Sorey's hand that instantly engulfed the monster in silver flames and drowning out its grotesque figure from view. His eyes were hard in the light of the blessed flames glowing through the smoky haze.

Lailah's shoes landed atop the stones quietly as she arrived at a subdued pace, holding her hands together before her dress. "...Such is often the loathsome sentiment of those who become pig hellions," she concluded soberly. "Alisha, please, do not let his words concern you."

The princess straightened before the burning flames, returning Lailah's gaze thankfully yet with a steeled edge. "It's fine, Lailah," she replied calmly, returning her lance behind her back. "It's nothing I haven't heard before."

In the absence of the clamor of battle, a strange, foreign silence fell amidst the normally bustling street of the merchant capital of Rolance. The grey haze of smoke continued to drift restlessly amidst the stagnant air, filling the world with the scent of burnt rubble. The buildings lining the streets were deathly silent; their shattered windows and kicked-in doorways staring hauntingly back at the group as they stood in the middle of it all.

Rose's expression was grim as she slid her daggers back into the sheathes behind her back. "It's just like what I heard," she remarked soberly, staring down the street and into the endless void of grey smoke. "Lastonbell's in bad shape. Most likely, the rest of Rolance is in a similar state as well."

Edna lifted her foot and kicked an overturned barrel, sending it clattering loudly across the street. "Didn't see a single human anywhere else in the city that wasn't already a hellion." She glanced to the side at the figure that Velvet had propped up against the side of a crate resting in the middle of the road. "Save for that one," she finished, tapping her umbrella on the ground.

At that, Velvet tilted her head slightly, glancing expectantly at the woman in question. "I can tell you're awake, you know." she stated calmly, resting her human hand on her right hip. "We're not going to hurt you, I promise."

A pregnant pause followed her words.

Then, the group watched as the woman in the tattered green dress slowly slid her eyes open, taking in the sight of the entire group of strangers watching her in turn. She frowned, her eyes taking in both the pulsing claw hanging from Velvet's side and the brilliant neon-green wings hanging solemnly behind Sorey's form.

"...A demon and an angel, huh?" A strange smile graced her chapped lips as she shook her head in idle amusement. "Guess it was too much to hope for that all of that was just a dream," she muttered, wincing as she inadvertently jostled her shoulder by shifting around. "Damn," she cursed.

Sorey stepped forward, absently waving his hand to dispel the armatus in the process. "Are you alright?" he asked, worry in his eyes as he took in the state of the woman's torn clothing. "Those bandits didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Which ones?" the saleswoman sighed, running a hand through her hair only to frown as her palm came back covered in dirt. "There's been so many gangs rampaging around the city these past few weeks I've lost count."

Rose's boots landed in the puddle of muddy water underfoot as she stepped over to her, kneeling down and taking a careful look at the wounds on her shoulder. "Last I heard, the city guard had been completely driven out of town," she prompted softly.

The saleswoman winced as she began carefully slathering a gel on her open wounds. "O-ouch," she grunted. "Well, you heard wrong. The city guard themselves were part of the vagrants plaguing the city." She shifted slightly in her seat, holding her arm still as Rose wrapped bandages around it.

"Not long after news of the complete takeover of the capital had swept the town, little by little, ruffians began to gather in gangs," she explained soberly. "The guards fought them at first, but once it became clear that there were too many, some gave up and started looting as well." She shook her head, pursing her lips as she glanced to the side at her surroundings. "...It sure didn't take long for what was once a peaceful city to become every man for himself."

Sorey rested his hand on the pommel of his sword as he shifted on his feet. "That's horrible," he muttered. "All of this in just a few weeks?"

"To think there would be such a rapid devolvement of peace and order in such a small frame of time." Lailah mumbled in disquiet, holding her hands together before her dress. "Truly... this does not seem natural in the slightest."

Dezel crossed his arms slowly. "It wasn't just news of the coup. Something else got them all riled up, and fast," he stated darkly. "No doubt about it."

Alisha glanced around at the hauntingly empty buildings lining the smoky street, frowning. "That isn't all. The extent of the destruction is far beyond what gangs of mere looters and bandits could have achieved in such a short period of time, hellions or not." She raised a gloved hand into the air to disturb the thick haze of smoke hovering before her, her frown deepening. "This smoke... it's almost as if the entire city was on fire."

The saleswoman grunted as she slowly got to her feet, carefully tended to by Rose as she did so. "Right, nearly forgot about that part." She smiled humorlessly at them all. "At about the same time that people began losing their minds, these strange, freak storms started forming out of nowhere." She gestured to the remains of a storefront down the street from them. It was entirely destroyed, held together only by burnt wood planks with scattered debris strewn all across the street before it.

"One second it would be clear as day, and the next, Lastonbell would be besieged by lightning the likes of which nobody had ever seen," she recounted soberly. "Guess we don't live in the Age of Disasters for nothing, huh?"

Mikleo furrowed his brow in confusion. "...Freak lightning storms? Lailah, could this be the work of a particular hellion?" he asked, turning to the fire seraph.

The group watched as Lailah shook her head mutely. "A few, perhaps, were it to be the case that the storms were only in one area. Yet I know not of any type of hellion that could feasibly cover an entire city and wreak such an unimaginable degree of havoc."

Sorey crossed his arms, bringing his gloved hand to his chin. "There's so many unknowns to all of this," he summarized in disquiet. "What could have possibly caused so many humans to turn into hellions so quickly? What could be the source of the storms?"

The saleswoman hummed, gingerly testing adding weight on her leg. "Most people didn't stick around to find out. In between the bandits, the storms, and the conflict in the capital, most everybody escaped the city while they could. Those who didn't have a chance tried their best to hide from it all." She drew her lips into a thin line. "Like me."

Velvet raised a questioning eyebrow at her, resting a hand on her hip. "Why didn't you leave?" she asked.

The woman in the green dress turned to face her, her eyes inevitably straying to the enormous claw at the woman's side. "...My mother," she answered quietly, tearing her eyes from the appendage to meet Velvet's eyes. "She's sick."

Her hand clenched into a fist as she held it against her chest, her teeth gritting in emotion. "Damnit," she cursed quietly, squeezing her eyes shut. "To think, I was spending all my days working my butt off, hawking crap to people in the streets just to make enough money to pay for mom's medicine. Barely hanging on every day, just to see her smile." Her fist tightened even further in abject fury.

"Then the world decides to go and lose its damn mind!" she screamed, abruptly drawing her leg back to slam her bare foot into the side of one of the bandits lying unconscious on the ground. Tears welled up in her eyes at the agony shooting up her leg, yet she ignored it, instead gritting her teeth further and allowing the emotion to course through her. "Just... give me a break!" she sobbed.

A hesitant hand gently alighted upon her shoulder, causing her to freeze.

She opened her teary eyes to find the young man with the strange cloak holding her gaze, a small yet earnest smile on his face as he removed his hand from her shoulder. "I'll do what I can to help, I promise."

She blinked dumbly at him, confusion clear in her face as she tried to register what he had just said. "...Sorry," she said hesitantly, tilting her head slightly to the side as she examined the person who she'd seen transform into an angel. "Who are you, again?"

Sorey blinked and scratched his head sheepishly. "Oh! Uh, I'm-"

"He's the Shepherd." Mikleo's words were strong and confident as he strolled up to Sorey's side, returning the confused human's gaze while resting a fist on his hip. "And we're his seraphim, here to aid his efforts to guide humanity through the Age of Disaster." He smiled reassuringly, gesturing with his head towards his childhood friend. "I know he might not look like much but looks can be deceiving. You can rest assured that he doesn't ignore people in need."

The saleswoman had wide eyes as she processed what he'd just said, her gaze leaping between the two of them in astonishment. "He's the... Shepherd? And you're one of his... seraphim...?"

By Mikleo's side, the Shepherd shot him a reproachful look, crossing his arms defensively. "Uh, Mikleo? Aren't the Shepherd's loyal seraphim supposed to hold him in a higher regard than 'He doesn't look like much?'" he asked petulantly.

"My apologies, good Shepherd." the seraph replied easily, a grin on his face. "Would you have preferred I introduced you as the bookworm weirdo you actually are?"

Sorey raised an incredulous eyebrow at him. "That's even worse!"

He shook his head and turned back to the saleswoman who was watching the exchange with a curious expression. "A-anyways, the point is that you don't have to worry," he told her earnestly. "The Shepherd is on the case!" he grinned, holding his gloved fist in the air with determination.

Silence followed his declaration.

After a moment, the saleswoman turned and raised an incredulous eyebrow at Mikleo. "Is he for real?" she asked, gesturing at Sorey as if he were some kind of weird circus animal.

Edna dropped the tip of her umbrella onto the ground with a hollow thunk. "You're such a dolt," she muttered at Sorey, whose cheeks had grown hot pink.

Rose laughed nervously, scratching the back of head. "Yeah..." she agreed slowly. "We're going to have to come up with a better catchphrase for you, Sorey. You sounded as bad as Sergei just then."

Alisha was in the process of smothering her indecent laugh behind her hand while Dezel had crossed his arms in irritation. Beside them, Lailah gently clasped her hands together before her dress, warm amusement in her expression. "That's our Sorey," she smiled.

As the Shepherd floundered in a vain attempt to gain any semblance of respect from those before him, Velvet shook her head in dry amusement and turned her gaze away towards the distant haze obscuring the end of the street.

The motions of the smoke undulated amidst the stagnant air, warping the diffused sunlight and forming brief, ominous shadows amidst the folds of the haze. To her enhanced senses, the smell of smoldering ashes was especially keen, causing her nose to wrinkle in distaste. She stared out into the vast grey void, any levity in her expression slowly fading in the face of the vast unknown.

"So, you can feel it too."

She glanced slightly to the side at Dezel's words as he stepped up alongside her, similarly facing out towards the obscured thoroughfare and beyond. He crossed his arms, his movements stiff and alert. "I can't use the wind to tell through the smoke, but I can tell," he muttered, bringing a hand up to adjust the hat on his head. "We disturbed something the moment we set foot in this city."

Velvet nodded slowly, turning her head to examine the wind seraph with an unreadable expression. He stood there amidst the smoke, determined in both stance and motive – just the same as always. Her mind turned to the words she'd first exchanged with him, long before her identity had been revealed.

Then, driven by some sudden urge, she spoke. "Laphicet."

She returned her gaze forward into the abyss of smoke, heedless of the wind seraph's wordlessly questioning look. "My brother," she explained quietly, her words barely a whisper amidst the deafening silence. "He was the one who was taken from me."

The haunting disquiet of the ruined city continued in the wake of her statement. The gaping broken windows of the surrounding building stood out amidst the haze like the contorted shadows of monsters, loathsomely watching the two intruders standing alone amidst the destroyed street. Somewhere, in the far distance unseen through the smoke, a dull clattering caused by something resounded out throughout the silence.

The wind seraph's boots scraped noisily atop the cobblestones as he abruptly turned around, walking away from the therion's side. He paused for a split second to turn his head to the side, his jagged, demonic teeth bared in deep-seated fury.

"Lafarga." The lone word was old and stale on his lips.

With that, he resumed his pace, walking away leaving the hellion standing alone before the smoke. She frowned in response, her gaze quietly dropping down to the extended claw still pulsating at her side. All around, the smoke continued to undulate, the shadows seemingly grasping out towards her with each passing moment.

---​

Broken glass and debris crunched deafeningly underneath the group's footfalls as they traversed the desolated alleyways of the city, eyes and ears alert to any signs of possible threats lurking behind each corner. They passed boarded-up doors and windows and stepped past fallen belongings lying strewn about the gutters. Enormous scorch marks would occasionally blot the stones underfoot, accompanied by piles of ash and debris from where the bolt of lightning had struck.

The saleswoman walked with them amidst the silence, a man's boot on her bare foot that had been stolen from one of the bandits. Her eyes were sad as she took in the sight of a completely demolished storefront as they passed. "Will the world... ever return to normal?" she asked quietly as she walked; a sad expression in her eyes. "This city has been home to me and my mother for as long as I've known. Now... it's all gone."

A piece of burnt lumber crumbled instantly underneath Sorey's boot as he walked. His eyes were sad as he too took in the extent of the destruction. He found that he didn't have an answer for her.

Her frown deepened as she hugged her injured arm in disquiet.

Edna's umbrella tapped rhythmically on the stones as she walked, punctuating the group's pace as they turned the corner into the next alleyway, following the saleswoman's silent lead. "All of this, because of something Kittybeard did," she stated detachedly as she walked. "It's probably all part of his plan to help him wrest Rolance under his thumb."

"That I agree with, but what could his motive possibly be?" Alisha asked plainly, a frown on her face as she fingered the lance hanging off her back. "What does he gain from going to such lengths to take control of an entire nation – why not destroy it entirely?"

Rose scratched her temple, glancing at Alisha. "Maltran said something about that back in Ladylake, didn't she? She said something a reckoning; about taking back 'what is rightfully his.'"

Sorey's expression was disquiet at the reminder. "Heldalf..." he muttered. Beside him, Velvet walked on mutely, quietly observing the extent of the damage to the ruined city.

The woman in the torn green dress led them all through the alleyways with the proficiency of someone who had grown up traversing them. Eventually, they stepped out from beyond the cover of the claustrophobic alleyways and out into a wide-open plaza – one similarly devastated by a combination of looting and lightning strikes.

The water from the fountain in the middle of the plaza had long since leaked out of the cracks to pool in the small craters littering the area caused by recurrent strikes of lightning. The surrounding buildings were all damaged one way or another, whether through the breaking of windows or the scorching of flame. Piles of debris and ash littered the streets, alongside torn scraps of clothing and other belongings that the looters had plainly decided were not worth any value.

They came to a halt before a particular storefront looking out into the plaza – one that had been broken into but had been spared any storm damage. It was here that the saleswoman finally came to a halt and turned to face them, her eyes alighting upon Sorey's.

"...This is it," she stated solemnly, giving them all a thankful nod. "My mother and I have been hiding in the cellars here. Thank you all for bringing me here."

Sorey nodded in kind, resting a hand on the pommel of his sword. "Please, stay here while we get to the bottom of this."

He shook his head seriously, glancing around at the smoky ruins of the once-proud city all around him. "And... I'm sorry this has happened to you and your mother. I'm sorry your life won't be the same after all this." His gloved hand tightened into a fist as he brought it up to his chest, returning the saleswoman's gaze in determination. "But I will do everything I can to help, no matter what," he stated firmly. "That's a promise."

She tilted her head at the curious sight, quietly examining the strange young man's stance and determination as he stood there before her.

"'...When darkness threatened to enshroud the world, it was they who reclaimed light from nothingness.'"

The human in the tattered green dress shook her head in disbelief, an amused smile quietly forming on her lips. "I always thought of the Shepherd and the seraphim as old wives' tales. And now here you are, doing exactly what the legends say. It's funny, really." She held a hand up to her chest, a small but noticeable spark in her eyes.

"Sorey, Velvet, all of you, thank you," she stated, turning her gaze to include the entire group of strange otherworldly individuals amassed before her. "Please, do what you can. I'll be rooting for you."

With that, the woman turned and disappeared into the depths of the broken storefront, disappearing into the shadows without a trace. In the wake of her departure, the group turned towards each other; determination clear in their expressions.

"Alrighty then," Sorey concluded, firmly popping his fist onto his open palm. "Let's go save the people of Lastonbell."

Mikleo nodded in kind. "There are bound to be people like that lady all over the city, hiding in fear of the gangs of hellions roaming the streets. We need to rectify the situation now before things get even worse."

"Yes." Aisha's gauntlet clinked as she clenched it into a determined fist. "Regardless of whatever twisted reasoning the chancellors had, I myself simply refuse to turn a blind eye upon the suffering citizens of another nation."

"Hmm..." Rose furrowed her brow while crossing her arms. "Remember how one of those bandits that we fought earlier mentioned his boss? He might be a good place to start, but the question would be where?"

Dezel stepped forward, his teeth bared and pendulums in hand. "Won't need to look far," he stated darkly. "He's coming to us." At his words, the group turned warily, following his gaze to the other side of the desecrated plaza.

They felt him first before they saw him.

The cobblestones under their feet rumbled ever so faintly with increasing strength as heavy steps became audible in the distance. Exchanging wary glances, the group slowly fanned out into a ready formation as a lone shadow slowly grew defined in the smoky haze across the plaza, growing more and more defined with each tremor underfoot. The hellion slowly lumbered to a halt at the opposite end of the plaza, emerging from the grey to reveal his true form to the Shepherd's group.

The drake stood almost a full story high, draped in stretched and soiled garb of the Rolance city guard. Enormous jagged horns jutted out from its skull, framing its draconic features as it stood there, observing the Shepherd's group. Malevolence oozed liberally from its being, forming a putrid aura that wrapped around both its body and wings dangling like capes off his back. In its right hand it wielded an enormous, jagged sword, glinting amidst the dim lighting with razor-sharp edges. Slowly, it opened its jaws, a single trail of saliva threading through the razor-sharp teeth to drip down his chin as it did so.

The uttered voice of the drake thrummed through the very stones underfoot as it snarled unintelligently at them all, slowly raising its offhand into the air. A heartbeat later, its enormous draconic claw smashed into a fist, sending the signal.

Out of nowhere, a hail of arrows erupted from various vantage points surrounding the plaza, driving through the haze overhead with bright orange flares of flame. The group reacted instantly, raising their defenses to deflect the onslaught of projectiles into the nearby stones.

Still maintaining his raised mana shield, Sorey turned around and cursed as he saw a dozen arrows slam into the frame of the saleswoman's store, some managing to embed in the wood setting it aflame.

"Mikleo-!" he began urgently, only to blink as blades of ice suddenly slammed into the various patches of flame, instantly snuffing the blazes out before they could take hold. The group turned amidst the onslaught to find a group of robed seraphim charging forward and into the plaza, with a distinct Lord at the head.

"Sindra!?" Sorey called in surprise, wincing as another volley of flame arrows slammed against his maintained shield.

Velvet narrowed her eyes at the newcomer, her claw twisted towards the sky to deflect the oncoming projectiles. "...You won't stand a chance against this one either." She gestured her head towards the towering drake watching the scene from across the plaza.

In return, the green-haired seraph called Sindra gave the therion a reproachful look as she brought her hands together, sending another volley of ice spikes towards the patches of flame threatening the store. "I learn my lessons, hellion," she replied evenly, with no bite to her words. She paused, taking in the sight of the former Lord of Calamity, claw extended, standing side-by-side alongside the Shepherd who had anointed her.

Her lips drew into a thin line.

"...Everyone!" she called to the half-dozen seraphim standing behind her. "Protect the humans inside that building at all costs!"

She raised her hand forcefully, forming a rectangular shield of ice before them to deflect an oncoming onslaught of arrows. A chorus of affirming replies followed as the group of seraphim proceeded to flash across the plaza, taking up stations before the store in question. Satisfied, Sindra glanced at Sorey and Velvet, a deathly determined expression on her face.

"Shepherd. Calamity. I admit to my wrongs," she stated simply, wincing briefly as pain shot up her injured side. "I see clearly now that my actions were foolish and sinful. Please... allow me to atone."

Sorey blinked, his glance jumping wordlessly from the Lord of the Land to Velvet in confusion. Another volley of flaming arrows clattered noisily against his mana shield, accompanied by the sound of hissing flame as the seraphic followers behind extinguished falling arrows immediately upon impact.

Velvet, on the other hand, tossed her human hand shortly through the air. "Do as you like," she replied callously. "I won't stop you."

Sindra nodded in turn, a hint of a smile appearing on her face. With that, she pointed her index finger solemnly towards the drake across the plaza. "We shall handle things here. You all, focus on taking him down." Her expression was dark as she glared at the hateful monster watching the chaos unfold before him.

"...For he is the source of the storms."

Mikleo frowned, stepping back as a stray arrow stopped a few inches from his head, their momentum arrested by tendrils of water. "What?!" he demanded. "How could that drake be the source of the storms?"

Rose shook her head impatiently, her bent elbow maintaining the shield of mana over her head. "Doesn't matter. Just means two birds in one stone!" She grinned.

Sorey stepped forward, his hand firmly on the pommel of his sword as he evenly met the inhuman gaze of his opponent across the plaza. "This is what we're here for," he stated solemnly, glancing over his shoulder at the others. "Come on, guys!"

At the Shepherd's lead, all three humans raised their free hands and uttered the true names of their seraphic companions, engulfing their forms in the brilliant angelic garb of the armatus. Sorey lunged forward, the great blocks of the earth armatus hovering readily at his sides. Alisha shot into the hazy skies, the wings of the armatus flaring brilliantly behind her form. Rose dashed forward, drawing the brilliant bow of the water armatus back, narrowing her eyes in concentration.

The captain of the Lastonbell guard let out an inhuman, bloodthirsty howl, suddenly lunging forward with a speed that belied its size and carved its enormous blade through the air. The jagged sword barely swept under Alisha as she corkscrewed through the air, simultaneously raising her hand to slash a blade of wind, drawing a light graze on the drake's hide.

The drake didn't even react to the grazing wound, instead spinning around, sweeping its tail low on the ground to force Velvet to leap out of the way. It then uttered a furious roar and wrenched his jaw open, expelling a violent plume of smoke towards the therion that forced her to use her claw to propel herself out of the way.

Its flaming breath was choked short as an arrow of concentrated water slammed into the side of his neck, sending it reeling briefly to the side. It recovered astonishingly quickly, wrenching its jagged blade around in the blink of an eye to slam into Sorey's hastily raised guard mid-charge, tossing him like a ragdoll into a nearby building.

Without even pausing for breath, the drake then wrenched around and slammed its free hand into Alisha as she made for a second pass, sending her spiraling wildly out of control into the ground.

"Flame Vortex!" Lailah called, snapping her casting cards into the air.

Unnatural winds congregated and swirled around the ground at the drake's clawed feet for a split second before they exploded into a violent tornado, fully engulfing it in an unbearable furnace of flame. It barely twitched, instead turning to face the distant fire seraph with a vicious growl.

Before any of them could react, it snapped its wings and abruptly lunged forward into flight, raising its giant sword in a curving arc towards Lailah's form.

"Scale Crusher!"

BANG!

An almighty explosion detonated on the left thigh of the drake, causing it to roar in agony and miss Lailah, instead slamming its sword into the remains of the fountain in the center of the plaza. Fouled water and debris exploded with the earth-shaking impact of the blade, flying impossibly high into the air above as if shot out of a geyser.

Velvet sheathed her gauntlet blade in the wake of her arte, using her claw to leap out of the way of an incoming boulder. She whirled around in the wake of the impact, frowning at the sight of Sindra's seraphim floundering amidst the chaos.

"Alisha, Dezel!" she barked, breaking into an inhuman pace towards the drake. "Draw him off, now!"

"Understood!" the princess replied shortly, having recovered from her tailspin in midair. She flared her neon green wings and shot towards the Drake as it came to a sliding halt on the other edge of the plaza. The air screamed in her ears as she banked to the side at the very last second, dodging the slice of the enormous sword while also managing to score another grazing blow on the arm of the drake.

Bellowing furiously, the monster slammed its wings down, pushing itself into the air after the pest that had wounded it. The rest of the Shepherd's group were hard-pressed to follow, leaping up into the thickest layer of smoke atop the rooftops of Lastonbell.

Their eyes stung as they charged through the grey abyss, their footfalls clacking loudly atop soot-stained ceramic tile as they leapt from roof to roof after the rapidly departing shadow of the soaring drake. The roars of the enraged monster continued to echo throughout the ruined city artisans as they charged urgently towards the source of the bellows.

Sorey cursed as his foot inadvertently dislodged a piece of burnt tile, causing him to stumble briefly before he resumed his run. The world had devolved into a few simple things – the roaring of the distant monster, the irregular sounds of his boots slamming against tile and brick, and his rapid breath.

"Come on!" Edna's disembodied voice rang out in his ears as they ran. "Hurry it up!"

"Got it!" Sorey replied, narrowing his golden eyes and focusing on calculating the fastest path through the indistinct shapes of the rooftops racing towards him. Suddenly, he came to a screeching halt, using the fists of earth hanging at his sides to arrest his momentum at the edge of a rooftop.

The drake had suddenly come to a sudden halt in midair, flapping its enormous wings at a steady pace to hover atop it all. Through the haze of the smoke, Sorey was barely able to discern its figure as it wrenched its elongated neck backwards.

It then let out a horrifying screech that pierced the heavens, echoing through every small alleyway and decrepit building amidst the city.

And in the wake of the monster's cry, the world was engulfed in darkness.

"Sorey! Move!"

Edna's yell caused Sorey to lunge out of the way just as an utterly deafening explosion occurred right where he'd been kneeling, accompanied by a violently disorienting tremble as the earth itself shook in fear and awe. His ears ringing painfully in the wake of the close call, he forced himself back onto his feet with the aid of the armatus, blinking in abject confusion at the sea of unnaturally low-altitude, pitch-black clouds flooding the skies overhead.

All across the city, crashes of thunder resounded deafeningly through the charged air, shaking the earth repeatedly and jarring Sorey's gritted teeth. He cursed under his breath, prudently leaping off the roof and onto a lower building as the torrent of lightning strikes continued to besiege the city.

"Sorey!"

The Shepherd turned his head and found the glistening white figure of Rose, still armatized with Mikleo, kneeling atop a nearby building. "How the heck are we gonna get past that?" the assassin demanded, gesturing with her bow up towards the extremely low layer of dark thunderclouds above. "We're totally getting fried if we try and punch through it!"

Another volley of nearby lightning strikes rattled Sorey's brain as he stared up at where he'd last seen the figure of the drake. He frowned, his thoughts racing as quickly as the pounding of his heart in his chest.

The conclusion came swiftly and naturally.

"The belfry!" he called back over the rattling cries of thunder. "It's the tallest building in all of Lastonbell by far. We can use it as cover to get above these clouds!"

"Not bad." Mikleo's disembodied voice rang out in amusement. "You remembered something useful for once," he remarked.

A grin spread across Rose's face as she replied with a thumbs-up. "Sounds good to me! Now let's go kick that thing's butt before it wrecks all of town!"

With that, the two humans took off towards their end destination at the heart of the city, leaping down and into the pitch-black alleyways of the city amidst blinding flashes of lightning.

The world had been reduced to one of hell, illuminated only by the glow of their armatuses as they charged through the safety of the alleyways amidst the violent storm of thunder beyond. Through the brief flashes of lightning, they perceived their destination loomed in the distance, jutting up through the extraordinarily low swirling clouds and into the skies above.

Together, Rose and Sorey forced their way into the belfry through the debris blocking the entryway, conjuring bulbs of mana to illuminate the otherwise pitch-black, edifice in shambles. Within the shelter of the brick building, the rumbling of thunder was blissfully quieter, yet still powerful enough to rattle the floor underfoot.

Urgency fueling their movements, the Shepherd and his squire used their armatuses to their fullest extent, leaping inhuman distances from platform to platform in a rapid ascent through the crumbling interior of the once-proud building. Their footsteps echoed forever with each step, resounding off the complex metallic machinery lining the walls of the interior.

Halfway up their ascent, Rose's eyes widened at the sight of movement above her.

CRASH!

A deafening explosion of splintering wood and squealing metal echoed up and down the length of the enormous tower as the full bulk of the drake smashed into the platform that she'd been standing on, sending her sprawling into a free-fall alongside the corkscrewing body of the monster. Wind screaming in her ears, the assassin forced her senses to focus as she twisted mid-fall, bringing the bow of the water armatus around to bear.

"Azure Assault!" she and Mikleo cried, unleashing a blindingly bright vortex of water mana to slam into the drake right as it was arresting its momentum, eliciting a deafening bellow of agony that rattled the entire building.

Moments before Rose slammed into the ground at the very bottom, a brilliant streak of neon green flashed in through a gaping hole in the side of the building, trailing Alisha as she intercepted her fellow squire in midair. She spun dizzyingly around in the air, frantically dodging to the side at the sight of an enormous jagged sword slashing through the darkness to cleave the two of them in half.

The sweeping blade missed them by a hair as they slammed into the side of a metal cog, tumbling onto a splintered wooden platform in a tangled heap.

The two managed to separate and stumble weakly to their feet in the wake of the maneuver, only to widen their eyes at the horrifying sight of the drake rising in the air towards them, its sword held high in its monstrous grasp.

"Crystal Tower!" Sorey roared from above.

CRASH!

A spontaneous, glistening stalagmite violently shot upward from the bottom of the tower, slamming directly against the body of the drake and sending it hurtling upward and away from the two squires. The massive monster flapped its wings amidst the cramped space to regain balance, uttering a furious roar as it began to ascend towards Sorey in retaliation.

Promptly, the Shepherd kicked off from his perch, dashing higher and higher into the darkness of the belfry with the enormous monster crashing through the splintering wood platforms underneath him.

Suddenly, his world lit up in red as a red-hot plume of flame erupted out of the hellion's throat towards him.

His teeth gritted, he instinctively allowed the connection in his head to separate, dispelling the armatus in midair and subsequently forcing both his and Edna's bodies away from the shooting trail of flame. He tumbled to a stop atop a chance stone platform, his head spinning with nausea as the heat of the flames washed over his body.

Heedless of the agony surging through his body at the impact, Sorey wrenched his sword from out of its scabbard and broke into a dead sprint down the length of the platform as the drake forced its way atop it in pursuit of its prey. He skidded to a halt at the only exit at the end of the platform, finding nothing but empty darkness marred with flashes of lightning outside the torn-open doorway.

"Looks like we're not high enough," he breathed, gripping his sword tightly in his hand. The furious roar of the drake drew his attention, causing him to swear at the sight of the hellion lunging directly towards him.

"Well... can't hurt to try!" he yelled, breaking into a sprint out and into the open air of the active storm.

His cloak flapped violently behind him as he dashed out into the open storm atop one of the brick arches connecting the two towers of the Lastonbell belfry. The sounds of his boots impacting brick underfoot were completely drowned out by the screaming winds and crashing thunder amidst the heart of the unnatural storm.

A boom unrelated to the lightning resounded out from behind him as the drake crashed bodily through the brick surrounding the doorway he'd used, flaring its wings and uttering a furious cry as it emerged onto the arch with him.

The hairs on the back of his neck standing up in alarm, Sorey suddenly skidded to a halt, forcing an enormous surge of mana through his body and into the sword in his hand.

He opened his mouth and let out a furious cry as he charged forward, meeting the lunging drake head on. "Eat... THIS!" he roared, wrenching his sword into the air.

CRASH!

An utterly deafening explosion shook the world as a bolt of lightning spontaneously alighted atop the tip of his sword, the vast quantities of energy being contained and redirected by the overwhelming pool of mana swirling in Sorey's grasp. With that, the Shepherd wrenched his sword around and up into the air, colliding it into the bottom of the drake's jaw in an almighty explosion of lightning and mana.

"DIVINE WRATH!"

BOOM!

Cast up bodily by the enormous explosion, the drake shot upward through the air in the wake of the blast, twirling uncontrollably until it broke through the upper layer of the storm and began to arc back down to the ground. It landed atop the tiled roof of the belfry itself with a great crash, clattering noisily as it rolled and rolled before coming to a halt at the corner of the partially destroyed building.

Sorey followed in the wake of the drake, landing roughly atop the ceramic tiles of the belfry with a bone-jarring crash. He groaned, wincing at the pain shooting through his battered body while blinking blearily at the blinding light that had suddenly appeared all around him.

Eventually, once the ringing in his ears had stopped and the searing pain in his eyes had quelled, Sorey hesitantly opened his eyes and squinted out into the light.

A gentle breeze caressed his sweaty skin as he stared out in disorientation into the brilliant sunlight blanketing the world around him. Brilliant fluffy clouds drifted aimlessly amidst the blue skies above, mingling amongst each other amidst the company of the glistening sun overhead. The forest-covered hills bordering the city rose up from beyond the reaches of the swirling sea of unnatural thunderclouds suffocating the city, contrasting the pitch-black of the storm with brilliant shades of luscious green.

There, atop the island of brick amidst a sea of malicious darkness, Sorey slowly stood up on shaky legs, focusing his mind back on the task at hand. His sword still tight in his grasp, the Shepherd carefully traversed the torn and battered roof of the belfry towards the drake lying disabled just beside the edge.

His body aching with pulsing pain, Sorey gritted his teeth as he walked over to where the hellion that had been the captain of the guard laid. He glanced at the storm swirling beneath the belfry, the thrums of thunder being muffled but still audible through the cloud cover.

He shook his head, focusing as he raised his offhand towards the form of the disabled hellion, letting the familiar powers of the silver flame flow through him.

He blinked in surprise however, as through the flames, he discerned a glowing purple orb embedded in the chest of the drake, having been partially obscured by its torn clothing. The glow only intensified the further the flames progressed, the orb pulsing more and more rapidly with an audible hum of power as the hellion was purified.

Suddenly, the orb cracked.

A flash of darkness flooded his vision, sending him hurtling blindly into the abyss.

---​

The first thing he registered was the searing pain spasming through his heart.

Sorey choked, hunching over and clutching at his chest as pain unlike anything he'd ever experienced washed over his entire body in unyielding, merciless waves. He let out an involuntary groan of pain, stumbling forward blindly and gasping for breath underneath a strange, all-encompassing sensation of pressure. Amidst the agony, he forced his clenched eyes open, yet was unable to comprehend the sight that beheld him.

Dark streaks of putrid purple miasma tore through the skies above like enormous claw marks, rending the grey clouds like tears through paper. There was a light rain falling – rain intermingling freely with drops of liquid poison only to evaporate before it landed atop the bone-dry ground underfoot. Buildings of strange colored stone with deep flowing curves and elegant designs surrounded him from where he stood in the street, clutching his chest in agony. In the distance, down the hill, he could see the ocean itself past the city's harbor – the grey seawater too marred with deep, dark purple patches rotting just above the surface.

He let out an agonized cry as the pain became too much for him, causing him to drop to his knee atop the tiled walkway of the street. He clutched at the glossy surface with his hands, gritting his teeth as the poison invading his body surged at will, utterly overwhelming what defenses he held.

"Ma... levolence...?" he choked out, dimly managing to register what exactly it was that was causing the agony surging through him. "So much...!" he breathed weakly, forcing his head up in search for any possible reprieve from the unimaginable amount of concentrated miasma seeping into him.

Everywhere he looked, malevolence dominated the strange world he was in. Streaks of oozing concentrated purple dripped off balconies and down the painted wall of the buildings. All colors seemed to be dulled underneath a heavy fog – miasma of which he was breathing in with every labored breath.

And so, there, amidst the cauldron of unimaginable malevolence, the Shepherd slumped weakly onto the ground, clutching his heart in agony. He laid there, his cloak sprawled out all around him, shuddering weakly in agony amidst the strange foreign city. The soundless rainfall continued all around him, smothering him in phantom droplets of both rain and miasma.

Then, in the next moment, the pain vanished.

Sorey laid there for what felt like a lifetime, panting rapidly while remaining as motionless as possible, fearing anything that could possibly resume the torturous onslaught. All of a sudden, what poison had seeped into his being had begun to drain out, the aura of malevolence visible in the dim lighting as it flowed out of his body and towards the lone figure stepping towards him in the distance.

"Velvet...?" he mumbled, confusion in his eyes.

The therion approached with the sound of clinking metal, her extended demonic claw leeching away at the trails of malevolence that had invaded his body. She knelt down and quietly held out her human hand. "Can you stand?" she asked, her voice strangely loud amidst the soundless rainfall.

Sorey stared vacantly at her before snapping out of his surprise. "Y-yeah," he replied haltingly. "Thanks." With ginger movements, still shaken from the pain that had wracked his body moments earlier, the Shepherd reached up and grasped the hellion's hand, pulling himself back onto his feet.

He glanced down at her claw still actively consuming malevolence by her side, worry in his eyes. "Velvet, you're..."

She shook her head dismissively. "It's alright," she replied simply. "I'm used to it."

Sorey opened his mouth to pursue the matter but stopped himself, instead choosing to focus upon the more pressing matter. "Where are we?" he asked quietly, glancing around the foreign city in which they stood, in a world tainted by streaks of darkness. "So much malevolence – I've never seen it so concentrated before, ever. And..." He shook his head, attempting to grasp for words to try and describe his feelings. "I can't explain it, but everything about this just feels off somehow."

At his side, Velvet laid her human hand on her hip and frowned as she too surveyed their surroundings.

"...We're inside an iris gem," she explained quietly.

She brought her pulsing red claw up before her, frowning as she examined the never-ending trail of malevolence being actively devoured by the appendage. "One that's been tampered with."

Sorey looked at her in confusion for a few moments before understanding dawned on his expression. "That glow coming from that drake's chest when I was purifying it – that orb embedded in its chest was an iris gem?!" he asked, astonishment in his eyes. "Does this have something to do with the strange powers that it had?"

She shook her head in response, letting her hand fall from her hip. "Don't know," she replied simply. "Whatever it was, it didn't allow any of the others to come near it. I was the only one who it didn't affect."

"Then... you came in after me." Sorey winced, the phantom pain of the malevolence still very much vivid in his memory. He glanced at the trail of miasma being actively consumed by the therion, before meeting her eyes gratefully. "Thanks, Velvet," he expressed genuinely.

She shrugged noncommittally in response, turning away from him. "Let's go. There has to be some way out of this thing," she prompted, stepping forward and down the tiled street amidst the soundless rain. She glanced over her shoulder, adding, "I can only devour nearby malevolence. Stay close."

"R-right." He nodded quickly, making it a point to promptly catch up with the therion's long strides.

Together, the two wanderers proceeded to explore the bizarre otherworldly city; their eyes wary and their stances taut. Their footsteps resounded abnormally loudly amidst the silent downpour as they walked, the only sounds in what should have been a bustling city. High up above, the streaks of purple in the sky watched on, pulsing darkly and ominously from the giant tears in the clouds.

Yet despite the silent tension in the air, Sorey couldn't help but allow his eyes to wander from the empty spaces in between the buildings to the designs of the structures themselves, his eyebrows furrowing as he attempted to place the strange curving designs in his memory. Each deserted storefront or residence that they passed was painstakingly carved from brilliant stained stone, little marred by the grimy atmosphere nor the streaks of malevolence. He imagined that on a sunny day, the sight of the sprawling city itself would have been nothing short of jaw-dropping.

His eyes widened.

"Oh!" he gasped, snapping his fingers in the air. "I've got it!"

Velvet glanced over her shoulder and gave him a curious look as she walked. "Figure something out?" she prompted.

Sorey nodded eagerly, gesturing towards the nearby buildings as they passed through a deserted plaza. "I didn't realize it at first, but after looking at them closer, it's clear that the buildings of this city were built long ago. All of them are clearly worn, and the newer buildings dotting here and there aren't nearly as well-crafted as the others." He shook his head and crossed his arms in conviction. "Also, what use would a city have for a harbor nowadays? Glenwood hasn't exchanged with the other continents for centuries now."

He glanced at his companion, gesturing reasonably in the air as he stated, "That's why I'm convinced that this city was built long before the period that we call the Death Age from two hundred years ago." There was little disguised excitement in his face as he remarked, "If that's true, it would be the case that we're actually walking through a well-preserved set of ruins. How cool is that?"

Velvet sighed at length as she turned the corner away from the Shepherd. "Leave it to you to get excited at a time like this," she muttered dryly as he blanched and scrambled to catch up with her.

The incline in her lips slowly faded as she walked. "...Focus, Sorey," she said quietly. "Keep in mind that I have a limit for how much malevolence I can contain."

Sorey's expression sobered quickly. He glanced at her, newfound concern in his face at the renewed sight of the miasma actively being absorbed into the palm of her enormous claw. "Are you sure you're going to be alright?" he asked urgently. "What happens if you take in too much?"

She shrugged. "I wouldn't be the one you'd be worrying about in that case," she replied, returning her eyes forward to the task at hand.

They continued down the street in silence after that.

Their wandering steps eventually led them to the entrance to the port of the strange city – an arc standing high and tall above the street large and grand enough for the entry of a full-grown dragon. Beyond, great, long piers stretched out into the unpleasant waters of the miasma-riddled ocean, long since fallen into disrepair as the waves slowly eroded its well-carved stone in time. Here, the foreign sound of waves crashing against the rough rock resounded loudly into the silence, almost portraying a semblance of normalcy as the pair walked out onto the open harbor from the city proper.

Sorey frowned as he came to a halt, sweeping his gaze across the sprawling expanse of the decaying harbor amidst the soundless rain. Despite the suggestion of the roaring waves, not a hint of a breeze touched his skin, leaving him with an off-putting sensation that did not subside.

He blinked as he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye.

A lone boy, no more than 6 years of age, shivered feverishly curled up in a fetal position underneath the partial shelter of a pile of splintering crates. His clothes were naught but rags, all completely drenched and sticking to his pale skin amidst the downpour. He shuddered uncontrollably as a phantom gust of the sea breeze that Sorey didn't feel fell mercilessly upon him, causing him to squeeze his limbs even tighter together underneath the pitiful shelter that the boxes provided. His boots alighted gently atop the surface of the bone-dry pier as he knelt down before the child, worry in his eyes at the utterly wretched sight.

"Hey," he greeted quietly, resting his gloved hand on his knee. "Are you alright? Do you need help?"

The child bobbed his head in response, still shivering uncontrollably with his body hunched up in a ball underneath the crates.

"Y-y-yes..." His voice was plainly raw and sore from the cold. "I-I do."

Before Sorey could say more, metal clinked loudly as Velvet stepped up to his side, her arms crossed and a frown on her face. "Tell me something." Her eyes narrowed as the boy peeked up at her through the gaps in his arms. "What's your name?"

The boy's head slowly rose from out of the shadows of his arms, holding the therion's gaze with an utterly still expression. "Heldalf," he answered quietly.

Sorey's eyes widened.

He abruptly wrenched his gloved hand forward just in time to expel a blast of mana and deflect the thrown daggers hurtling towards his heart.

His ears ringing in the wake of the blast, Sorey scrambled backwards and pulled out his sword, watching with wide eyes as what had once been the figure of a child grew into an indistinct haze of swirling malevolence orbited by sets of razor-sharp daggers. The set of boxes that the boy had been cowering under exploded outward with its appearance, strewing splintering shrapnel across the utterly soaked pier.

The waves crashed with an almighty boom behind Sorey as he fell into a ready stance. "...I don't know what we've found, but I sure won't back down now," he warned, gripping his sword readily in a two-handed grip.

By his side, Velvet narrowed her eyes at the sight of the strange shapeless monster wielding the daggers. "It's coming. Get ready!" she warned, hardening her stance.

Without a sound, the undulating mass of malevolence shot forward in the blink of an eye, erratically tracing a frantic trail in the flooding waters atop the pier in its wake. The rings of blades orbiting its form twisted and halted in mesmerizing patterns as it moved, solidifying its appearance as a wholly unnatural apparition amidst a tainted memory.

The daggers flew with gentle songs belying the deadliness of their blades. Velvet and Sorey scattered in different directions as the onslaught began, a hail of weapons slamming into the stones where they were standing. Sorey's boots ground upon dry stone as he lunged to the side, bringing his blade around at a precise angle just in time to deflect the next dagger hurtling towards the flesh between his eyes.

CLANG!

As the steel weapon spun off over his shoulder with a hair-raising whine, the Shepherd charged forward, bringing his offhand up to form a protective barrier of mana before him. More blades deflected off the mana as he ran, pinging loudly off the translucent surface as their momentum was arrested.

On the other side of the pier, Velvet's black cloak flared behind her as she dove forward, twisting her body around to dodge a pair of daggers soaring overhead. She reached up and slammed her palm into the warm stone of the pier, forcing herself into an acrobatic backflip as more blades continued to sing. Instinct driving her actions, she narrowed her eyes in midflight and wrenched out with her daemon arm, clawing through the air to deflect another batch of blades as she landed on her feet running.

The Shepherd and the therion closed in on the stationary apparition at the same time from opposite ends of the pier. One of the multiple rings of daggers orbiting it suddenly came to a screeching halt, correcting its angle horizontally only to jerk into a violent whirlwind that unleashed the entire set of blades in all directions.

Reading its erratic movements, the two reacted accordingly.

Leather skidded on rock as Sorey kicked into low slide while preserving his forward momentum, the onslaught of daggers barely managing to miss his head as he did so. On the other side, Velvet flung her body into a corkscrew, the inhuman momentum of her leap sending her clear over the thrown blades while also allowing her to bring her hidden boot blade up to bear.

CLANG!

Their blades collided with an almost deafening ring as they arrived at the same time, the apparition shooting forward and dodging both of their attacks while twisting to the side in preparation to expel the remaining two rings of its daggers at close range.

Sorey's eyes met Velvet's for a split second before he acted instinctively, wrenching his blade forward and redirecting the therion's momentum via her extended hidden blade. She acted naturally in response, spinning around in the air while extending her gauntlet blade outward.

Her blade sank deeply into the amassed malevolence, exiting the side of the apparition with a trail of gratuitous purple smoke that wafted into the air with the viscosity of submerged blood. It seized up in response to the wound, the daggers orbiting it falling into disarray before it as it shook in silent agony. In the wake of the therion's blow, Sorey raised his sword over his shoulder with a determined yell, lunging forward to deliver the final blow.

In the blink of an eye, the purple monster had vanished, leaving only the boy standing there, staring sadly up at him amidst the empty pier.

He faltered at the sight, his sword wavering in his grip.

CRASH!

An explosion of malevolence thrummed out as Velvet mercilessly slammed the small child onto the flooding pier, her enormous claw pulsating eagerly as it began to devour the being in its grasp.

Sorey's eyes widened. "Velvet!" he yelled, rushing to her side as the utterly grotesque gulping sound of her claw became the only audible sound amidst the cracked world. "Wait-!"

She didn't spare him a glance. "He's the source of this malevolence. I can feel it," she growled lowly, her undulating claw tightening around the squirming child pinned against the ground. She tilted her head slightly to the side as she ate; the tension clear in her stance. "Try and stop me, and I'll bring you down too." Her dark tone brooked no argument.

Sorey's jaw stiffened, consternation clear in his expression as he watched the child let out pained cries in the therion's wretched grasp. At his side, his sword dangled in his uncertain grip.

"I... I need to do it."

The boy Heldalf's voice was more of a whimper than anything else as he stared directly at Sorey with tears flowing down his cheeks. "I need to... to kill you," he mumbled weakly.

Sorey exchanged a glance with Velvet before he knelt down hesitantly before the boy, a sad look on his face. "Why?" he implored softly. "Why would you say such a thing?"

Heldalf let out a pained moan as the pool of malevolence seeping out of his body continued to shrink. "Your... your money," he cried, shaking his head in dismay. "I have to do it... I have to!" he moaned feverishly, writhing uselessly on the ground. "My brother...! I have to save my brother!"

Sorey's eyes were rife with dismay as he looked down at the wretched child. "...You should've just asked," he mumbled, shaking his head. "If you had asked me, I would've given you all I had, willingly. There was no need for violence."

The boy stilled at his words, staring blankly up at Sorey even as the pool of miasma surrounding his body disappeared completely into Velvet's claw. "Ask...?"

He shook his head uncomprehendingly, his eyes losing focus as his body began to lose substance. "That doesn't make sense. That doesn't... All I can ever do... is take." His head rolled back onto the stones as he stared up into the cloudy sky, lying there atop the flooding stones with his hair drenched in the cold downpour.

"Take and take... and take."

His last words on his lips, the boy then vanished fully amidst a plume of malevolence, soon all too eagerly consumed by Velvet's clenching claw.

With his passing, a dull thrum echoed throughout the surrounding world. The sprawling city of ancient buildings began to waver in form, the colors slowly swirling together amidst the grey of the tainted clouds to mesh into nothingness. All around them, the swirling waters underneath the pier began to smooth, the sounds of the roaring waves petering out into silence as a dull white began to overtake everything.

While standing up, Velvet winced clutched her hellion arm with her right hand, letting out an involuntary hiss of pain in the process. Sorey glanced at her in alarm, taking a step towards her as the world of the corrupted iris gem faded all around them. Before he could speak, something washed over the two of them, accompanied by an utterly foreign presence that dominated the faltering space.

"...V... Vel... et..."

Her eyes widened in horror at the familiar, agonized voice. She snapped her head around violently, all pain in her arm forgotten as she searched frantically about the white nothingness that surrounded her and Sorey.

A flash of white.

---​

Velvet blinked, sunlight glaring blindingly in her eyes as she reached outward into the open sky with her outstretched claw. Dismay fell upon her expression as she cast about her surroundings, finding nothing but the bright blue sky all surrounding her in the wake of her return to the real world. A light gust of wind caressed her skin and rustled her coat and hair, further grounding her in the harshness of reality as she stood there, alone.

Her chest rising and falling with her rapid breathing, the therion gritted her teeth and furled her hellionized arm into a rough fist, squeezing her eyes shut in fury.

"...Phi." Her voice was naught but a whisper.

Leather boots alighted quietly atop the ceramic tile behind her as someone approached from behind, hesitation clear in his steps. Sorey's voice was quiet and caring as he asked his question into the soft breeze. "That was Maotelus back there, wasn't it?"

She opened her eyes slowly in response to his words, her expression carved into stone as she glanced at the Shepherd standing behind her. "...A small part of his awareness, most likely," she agreed slowly, frowning as she held her claw up before her. "What little of himself remains having been corrupted by malevolence."

Sorey crossed his arms in thought, his cloak billowing gently out behind him amidst the calm breeze.

"Heldalf left that iris gem there for us." He uttered his conclusion with conviction as he stared out into the distance. "That drake's power, that overwhelming amount of malevolence, Maotelus's voice, and that child version of himself..." He shook his head, frowning. "It just can't be a coincidence. He has to be doing all of this for a reason."

Velvet's extended arm dispelled with a burst of momentary malevolence as she took a step forward, her steel boots clinking noisily atop the tile. A deep-seated anger was carved into her expression as she clenched a fist to her chest. "I don't give a damn the reason. Whatever games he's playing, whatever he's trying to accomplish here..."

She glanced over her shoulder at him; a deadly look on her face. "I'll take him down all the same."

Sorey nodded resolutely, stepping up to her side while resting his hand on the pommel of his sword. "I'll be right there with you," he promised, turning his gaze out towards the brilliant vista before them. "We'll have a better chance if we work together, right?"

At this, she couldn't help but wave a dry hand in the air in response. "...Just as long as you quit pestering me about pointless nonsense," she muttered blithely.

He bristled indignantly. "Velvet, it's not 'pointless nonsense!'" he insisted, giving her a beseeching look. "And like I said earlier, if you could just spare a few more details on your era, I could just maybe solve the mysteries that so many historians-!"

He balked meekly in the face of the therion's silent, terrifying warning glare.

"Oh! Guys, I've found them – over here!"

The Shepherd and the former Lord of Calamity glanced over their shoulders at the sound of Rose's distant call, finding the assassin rushing hurriedly towards them by navigating over the ruined section of the Lastonbell belfry. Alisha and the rest of the seraphim were close behind, hurriedly dashing as quickly as they could towards the two standing by the opposite edge of the building.

A soft, relieved smile spreading on Sorey's face, he turned back to the hardened woman by his side, straightening his back in the wake of the exhausting battle that they'd endured. "...You know I kinda have this weird feeling that we'll manage just fine, no matter what other strange things are lying in store for us." he confided lightly, running a hand through his messy, scrambled hair.

Velvet let out a huff, crossing her arms and shifting on her feet as she stared out towards the brilliant vista lying before the two of them. "Of course you do," she replied dryly, her raven hair sweeping across her face amidst the gentle breeze.

The entire expanse of the City of Artisans sprawled out before their perch, its sturdy buildings wholly bruised and battered and yet still very much intact in the wake of the storm. Artfully crafted streets littered with dirt and debris spiderwebbed outward from major plazas throughout the city, leading the way through the broken pocket of civilization. Black pillars rose from patches of smoldering ruins to ride the soft breeze amidst the sunny day, escaping into the clear skies above.

There, standing high above the partially destroyed city of Lastonbell, the Shepherd and the therion gazed out beyond the plumes smoke and ash towards the distant horizon.

Defiant in the face of ruin.

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 25 – Asylum.

A faint, unnatural wisp of wind drifted across his face, disturbing his slumber.

His vague dreams fading into the back of his mind, Sorey's breathing softened as he regained awareness, the hairs on the back of his neck rising with a mounting sensation of uneasiness. With each of his senses steadily growing alert, he maintained his breathing pattern and kept his eyes closed. As he inched his right hand slowly towards the sheathed sword at his bedside, he strained his ears to pick up even the slightest hint of an intruder.

Yet there was nothing but the sound of silence.

His hand slipped out from underneath the sheets and into the cold underground air, travelling but a short distance to wrap around the reassuringly familiar wrapped grip of his ceremonial sword. He exhaled one final time, steadying his nerves and preparing himself for the worst. Then, in a sharp and concerted motion, he wrenched his blankets off his body and drew his blade from its sheath with a sharp screech of singing metal.

He snapped his eyes wide open, scanning the rest of the chamber with a ready gaze.

An empty darkened chamber greeted him in return. One in which Mikleo, sleeping in the bed opposite to him, shifted unhappily in his sleep at the echoing sound of his drawn sword. No intruders stood atop the stone tiles between the beds nor did strangers lurk in the looming entryway to the men's quarters.

His rapid breath misted in the chilly air as he quickly glanced around, scanning the unlit stone chamber for anything out of the ordinary. His travel pack rested in the corner alongside Mikleo's against a weathered stone pillar near the entrance, untouched. The dark hallway past the entryway leading out towards the main section of the ruins was unoccupied. Dezel was nowhere to be found – something he had come to expect – leaving nobody but him and Mikleo inside the vast empty chamber.

With that conclusion, Sorey exhaled quietly and lowered his blade, only now registering the chilliness of the air that his undershirt-clad torso was now exposed to. He frowned as he sat there atop his empty bed, struggling to remember what exactly it had been that had alerted him in the first place. "...Funny," he mumbled to himself, scratching his head. "Could've sworn I'd felt something odd."

The shirtless man behind him shrugged. "Probably just your imagination," he replied.

Sorey's eyes widened.

His panicked yelp echoed through the chamber, followed soon thereafter by a noisy crash as he tumbled from his bed onto the stone floor. His heart pounding in his chest, the Shepherd barely managed to place the face and voice as he whirled around, belatedly recognizing the seraph lounging against the stone wall behind his bed.

"Z-Zaveid?!" he exclaimed, his voice echoing off the weathered walls of the chamber.

Across the room, Mikleo rolled out of his bed in alarm, instinctively conjuring his staff in his arms as he took in the scene with wide, bleary eyes. He instantly zeroed onto the intruding seraph beside the Shepherd's bed. "Sorey!" he yelled urgently, taking a step forward.

In response, faster than the eye could track, Zaveid drew and raised a small weapon made of steel and wood, leveling it precisely at Sorey's head causing the two of them froze stark still. At the sight, their minds instantly flashed back to their first and only encounter with the wind seraph upon the foothills of Rayfalke Spiritcrest.

"For some, death is a kind of salvation, you might say."

Their eyes widening in horror, the two exchanged panicked glances as the same weapon that had ended the life of that hellion that day stayed evenly trained on Sorey's head. An unsettling grin had formed on the wielder's face.

"Sorry to drop in unannounced fellas," Zaveid drawled, casually pushing himself off the wall. He gave his weapon a quick, stylish spin before restoring his aim. "I'll be taking you two hostage now," he announced, giving them a charming smile that belied his words. "Don't do anything stupid, yeah?"

Mikleo stared incredulously at him from across the chamber. "Wh-what?!" he demanded with wide eyes. "Why would you...?!"

Zaveid returned the incensed water seraph's gaze coolly while gesturing Sorey to his feet with the muzzle of his weapon. "Eh, who knows?" He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm the sorta man who does whatever pleases me on whatever whim strikes my fancy."

His expression grew serious as he gestured the two of them forward, towards the exit of the chamber. "Now step wisely," he suggested, a fanged expression on his face. "Make any noise or try to alert the others and I won't hesitate to off ya. Trust me."

In response, Sorey and Mikleo exchanged wary glances, having little choice but to obey the malicious seraph's orders. The latter's staff emitted a quiet hum of mana as it disappeared from his grip, leaving the two of them properly disarmed.

The darkened main chamber of the Tintagel Ruins was a vast expanse of cold, unaccommodating stone, carved with brilliantly elaborate depictions of unrecognizable scenes from a bygone era. A multitude of extinguished torches lined the walls in recently installed metal brackets with faint trails of lingering smoke filling the chilly underground air, leaving the massive underground space utterly devoid of illumination and warmth. An errant breeze, having whistled its way through one of the various entrances to the ruins, uttered a haunting moan as it aimlessly wandered the enormous chamber inside which it had been trapped.

Sorey and Mikleo's bare feet pattered against the freezing stone as they were quietly herded through the main chamber, weaving amongst the various piles of wooden crates leftover from the previous occupation of the ruins by the Scattered Bones. Zaveid's boots alighted constantly behind them as they shuffled along.

As they continued onward, Sorey's eyes naturally wandered towards the hallway on the opposite wall that led the women's quarters, where the rest of the group were sleeping. By his side, Mikleo walked onward, keeping his gaze perfectly straight ahead as he opened his mouth to whisper amidst the silence.

"Sorey," he prompted quietly. "You need to alert the others."

The Shepherd glanced discretely over his shoulder to find Zaveid casually trailing some distance away, his weapon still trained readily upon the two of them. He frowned, returning his gaze forward as well. "How?" he replied, keeping his voice at a bare minimum.

"I'll distract him." Mikleo's expression was set in determination as he strode forward. "Take advantage of the opportunity as fast as you can."

Sorey's expression twisted in revulsion. "I'm not about to abandon you so I can run away!" he hissed out of the side of his mouth.

"This isn't the time for that," the seraph replied evenly, evidently having anticipated the response. "That weapon of his is deadly. We'll need to get the others to even the playing field as soon as possible." Chancing detection, he glanced over at Sorey with a dry expression. "...Do you doubt my abilities?"

Sorey frowned. "...You know I didn't mean it like that," he muttered.

Seemingly with a particular path in mind, Zaveid led the two through the remainder of the central chamber, giving the hallway to the women's quarters a wide berth in the process. A casual, easy grin ever-present on his face, he gestured the two wordlessly through the opened gateway leading into the depths of the Tintagel Ruins. Mikleo stepped forward first, giving Sorey a silent, pointed look in the process that he was unable to refute, to his frustration.

The air seemed to grow colder still as the three went deeper and deeper into the ruins, following winding tunnels that Zaveid seemed to know by heart – each step leading them further and further away from the others. Sorey was hard-pressed to memorize each turn amidst the dark, obscure stone hallways, reluctantly forcing himself to prepare himself for Mikleo's plan.

"Alright then, I'd say that's enough."

Zaveid brought them to an abrupt halt in the middle of a particularly deformed hallway, his easy grin still plastered on his face. His weapon hung lazily in his grip, aimed from his hip as he leaned his shoulder against the opposite wall. Both of them turned to face him warily amidst the darkness. In doing so, Mikleo caught Sorey's eye meaningfully, making a brief, cutting gesture with his head toward something behind the Shepherd.

Their captor had chosen to raise his weapon in the air and admire it, casually spinning it around his bent index finger. He shifted his position, resting his body weight upon the stone wall with a casual, lounging attitude. "Now," he began, focusing on maintaining an even spin of his weapon, "why don't the three of us..."

"NOW!" Mikleo yelled.

Through the unique, wordless coordination of two friends who had fought together for as long as they'd been alive, both Mikleo and Sorey burst into motion simultaneously, the former lunging forward while conjuring a fierce flurry of water projectiles to drive Zaveid away while the latter whirled around, bringing his left hand back in a surge of mana.

BANG!

The cracked, structurally compromised wall that Mikleo had observed crumbled into a fine dust through the sheer force of Sorey's arte, allowing him to lunge through the new hole in the wall and escape into a neighboring chamber through a heavy cloud of debris.

Brilliant neon flashes of blue and green spawned erratically in the crumbling hallway as the two seraphim exchanged artes behind him. Weathered stone rattled underneath their boots with each detonation, the very bones of the ruins groaning in protest at the chaos. Mikleo's teeth gritted as he leapt to the side, a vicious gust of wind barreling through the blurry dust where he'd been standing. He let out a fierce yell and lashed out with his staff in retaliation, determined to fend off his opponent with every fiber of his being.

His detonating arte rattled behind Sorey as he stumbled through the darkness, his eyes shut against the all-encompassing debris. He used his forearm to protect his face him as he did so, forging forcefully into the unknown as the chaos continued behind him.

Yet suddenly, the world lit up in a brilliant flash of red and orange, freezing him in his tracks.

He blinked dumbly as spots flashed in his eyes from the violent transition into brightness, holding his hand up against the source of the fire that had abruptly erupted in the chamber he had stumbled into. Slowly, his eyes began to adjust to the light, allowing him to take in his surroundings – a sight that filled him with complete and utter dismay.

There he stood, clad in shorts and an undershirt, in the middle of the women's quarters, surrounded by the partially clad females of the group staring at him with astonished expressions.

Expressions that swiftly turned murderous once they recognized exactly who had just invaded their private room.

He swallowed nervously, turning around on the spot, increasingly feeling like a lone rabbit surrounded by predators on all sides. "H-hey, guys," he greeted nervously, holding his hands up as disarmingly as possible. "I..."

His words trailed off as Velvet silently slid off her bed, guiding her feet into the steel boots placed at her bedside. Lailah's heels clicked loudly on the stone floor as the seraph approached, a wordlessly livid expression on her face. Alisha stood with her hands had balled into furious fists, her cheeks a burning shade of pink. Rose rolled her shoulders as she stood as well, casually reaching under her pillow to procure a razor-sharp dagger whose blade gleamed in the light of the flames. Edna stepped forward as well, her umbrella resting upon her shoulder gripped like club.

Cold sweat ran down the side of Sorey's face as they closed in. "No, I-I can explain!" he yelped in mounting desperation, whirling around with no way to escape. "Guys, it's not what it looks like! It's not...!"

His pleas fell on deaf ears.

"...AAAAaaaaaaGGGGH!"

Mikleo's eyes widened in horror as Sorey's scream echoed endlessly throughout the ruins, accompanied by the distinct sound of objects slamming repeatedly into his body. He jerked his head over his shoulder through the now brightly lit hole in the wall, only to have his jaw drop at the sight that awaited him. Behind him, the sound of Zaveid's utterly unrestrained laughter drew his attention back as the wind seraph dropped his guard entirely to bend over and clutch at his sides.

"Daaaamn!" the shirtless seraph laughed gleefully, slapping his knees. "That could not have gone better even if I'd tried – Zaveid: one, Shepherd: nil!" he crowed.

Mikleo stared.

"Y-you... what?!" he eventually demanded. "Did you do all of that as part of some kind of joke?!" he yelled hoarsely; indignation clear in his face. He received naught but a renewed bout of snorting laugher in response.

Meanwhile, Sorey had been reduced to nothing more than a limp figure lying flat on the stone floor. His crooked limbs twitched slightly as he laid there, unable to move out of fear of additional, merciless blows. Edna continued to jab her umbrella into his side, ensuring that justice was sufficiently dealt to the transgressor at her feet.

Velvet, on the other hand, had shifted her point of focus. Her steel boots clinked loudly as she stepped carelessly over Sorey's twitching body, heading towards the hole in the wall through which he had entered. Zaveid, still actively in the midst of a fit of chuckles, failed to react as she walked up to him, an utterly unimpressed expression on her face.

She proceeded to smash her fist into his exposed abdomen with a hollow thud.

"Gehk!"

The laughing wind seraph crumpled to the floor before her with a choked grunt of pain, clutching his stomach in agony. Despite himself, Mikleo winced sympathetically at the sight.

It was then, amidst the settling debris, the crackling of Lailah's smoldering fire arte, and the quiet groaning of the two men laying injured on the floor, that a new voice abruptly rang out into the stone chamber, drawing the attention of everyone present.

"Hello? Anybody there...? There was nobody in the men's side, so we wanted to check if everything was ok...ay..."

The group watched as two men and a wolf pup rounded the corner of the hallway into the entrance of the chamber, only to freeze at what awaited them.

The smell of burning ashes leftover from the detonation of artes hung in the air alongside a slight haze of residual dirt and debris. The members of the Shepherd's group all stood around in various stages of undress, with the partially dressed Shepherd himself lying face down on the stones in the center of the chamber appearing to have been chewed up and spat out. Through a gaping hole in the wall, Zaveid laid at a jacketless Velvet's feet, also appearing to be in a similar amount of pain.

Leo exchanged a glance with Hawk and Sergei.

He then cleared his throat loudly. "Er, sorry. Is now a good time?" he asked carefully, his uncertain voice echoing slightly off the walls of the silent room.

Velvet abruptly slammed her boot onto Zaveid's calf, eliciting a pained howl. "I suppose now that I'm awake, it is," she replied evenly, turning away from the insufferable wind seraph to return to the chamber.

With a general atmosphere of irritation and resentment, the females of the group proceeded to dress themselves properly before following the two Platinum Knights out of the debris-ridden chamber, shunning the crumpled figure of the Shepherd lying on the floor in the process. In their wake, Mikleo carefully stepped inside through the jagged hole in the wall, gently easing his injured friend up by the shoulders. Silence returned to the underground space as they left as well, leaving only the lone shirtless seraph lying on the floor.

After a moment, Zaveid finally let out a groan and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Y-yow. That broad really hits hard," he muttered as he pushed himself to his knees, wincing as another bout of pain seized through his abdomen. "...Guess it's a good thing I like it rough," he supposed slyly, an unapologetic grin spreading resiliently onto his face.

He then glanced over his shoulder into the darkness down the corridor behind him. "So," he asked casually into the abyss beyond. "Enjoy the show? I noticed you were trailin' us that whole time."

Leaning against the crumbling stone wall on the opposite side of the corridor, Dezel silently adjusted his top hat in response. "...You knew what was on the other side of that wall by feeling through the wind," he stated aloud. "All of that was planned from the start."

Zaveid lifted his arms in a casual shrug. "Glad someone's giving me some credit for my performance. People just don't appreciate a spot of good-natured, well-planned mischief nowadays," he complained.

Dezel's lips thinned.

His boots alighted softly on the stones as he pushed himself of the wall, confronting the other wind seraph directly. "...What are you doing here?" he growled lowly, his exposed jagged teeth glinting in the dim lighting. "Just what the hell are you after?"

The other man pushed himself to his feet, rolling his shoulders with a weary groan. His eyes opened to alight upon Dezel as he replied with an easy grin. "Who says I have to be after anything?" he asked innocently, waving a casual hand in the air. "That's just what I'm sayin' – nobody understands what fun is anymore."

Dezel's expression only darkened. "Hey, I'm serious-!"

"Listen buddy," Zaveid cut him off, turning on his heels to look at him directly amidst the silent hallway. "Women don't get the hots for men who are all uppity all the time." His grin grew sleazy as he casually rested a hand on his belt and tilted his hips. "Ya gotta loosen up every now and then if you're gonna want the ladies to like you. All this negative energy's gonna drive everyone away from you without a second thought."

He paused, furrowing his brow while lifting a hand to his chin in mock thought. "...Or maybe that's just how you like it?" he drawled.

Without waiting for a response, the seraph proceeded to hop through the hole in the wall, strolling through the debris-riddled chamber towards where the others had disappeared.

Dezel watched him leave from the shadows, his hands ground into fists and his teeth bared. "...Damn," he cursed, glancing away sharply. "Why does he get to me like that...?" he demanded under his breath.

The unerring silence was his only answer, the faint moaning of distant wind his only companion amidst the desolate ruins.

---​

The main chamber of Tintagel Ruins bustled as men and women clad in the silver and maroon colors of the Platinum Knights moved around the enormous underground space, unloading crates and supplies from the horse drawn carriages in the patchwork lighting of numerous torches and lanterns. The clopping of horse hooves resounded in the distance down an adjacent stone hallway as a temporary stable was established. A low dim permeated the great space as the knights conversed quietly among each other as they worked, exhaustion clear on their faces.

Alisha glanced over her shoulder as a woman rolled a barrel past where the group were seated, headed towards the chamber where provisions were being stored. She returned her gaze forward with an impressed expression on her face. "The knights appear to be in surprisingly high spirits after Sorey's words, heedless of how long they must've travelled in the past week," she remarked, resting her hands on the surface of the crate she was sitting upon. "Such strength is truly remarkable."

Sergei nodded resolutely in response, standing straight and proudly before them all as always. "It is to be expected," he replied confidently. "The world has become very tumultuous for us all very recently. Having the aid of the Shepherd of legend in regaining control of it is nothing short of an authentic miracle."

Rose curiously tilted her head to the side, absently kicking her boots against the side of the barrel that served as her seat. "What are y'all planning?" she prompted, gesturing over her shoulder towards the bustling knights behind her. "Everybody looks like they're about ready to drop dead. Couldn't you have waited until tomorrow to unload your stuff?"

Fiddling with the gauntlet blade strapped onto his wrist, Leo answered her question by shaking his head. "Everyone's sick and tired of waiting around," he explained with a shrug. "After hearing about the state of the Lastonbell, they demanded that we have 'em seize the city at first light. Tactically speaking, it does make some sense, what with the power vacuum with the outlaws in the city after what you guys did yesterday, but..."

Alisha leaned forward incredulously. "But does fighting a battle without proper rest not lead to unacceptable risk, even if it is against simple bandits?" she demanded, glancing between the two knights. "Surely the two of you are aware of this?"

Sergei's expression was calm as he returned her gaze. "Princess, you must understand how the men feel," he answered. "They have been driven into hiding by a usurper who has thrust all they have known into chaos. They have watched as the country that they love become embroiled in conflict and madness. As have I." He pressed his gauntleted fist into his chest as he declared, "This place is our home. We swore an oath to defend it to the day we die – we will not tarry in the fulfillment of that edict. That is all."

Alisha pursed her lips softly, her eyes drifting towards the ground in the wake of his words. "...I see," she replied quietly. "I suppose that is... understandable."

The quiet conversations of the laboring knights continued in the silence that followed. One man let out a foul curse as he accidentally dropped a heavy crate on his toe, followed by the amused laughter of his squad mates. In the distance, a stabled horse let out a whinny that resounded off the carved stone walls of the enormous ancient edifice.

Amidst the lull in the conversation, Edna abruptly turned her head and pointed her umbrella forward. "...Why is he still here?" she asked dully, drawing the attention of the group to the outsider casually perched atop one of the taller crate piles.

Zaveid took mock affront to the statement, leaning back with his arms supporting his neck. "Of course I'm still here," he drawled, winking coyly. "What kind of man wouldn't want to be here, surrounded by such breathtakingly gorgeous women?" He slid his gaze casually towards Sorey with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You know what I mean, don'tcha Sheps?"

Sorey flinched in response, the marks on his skin under his clothes suddenly flaring in phantom pain. "N-no!" he refuted waving his hands in the air. "Really, it's nothing like that!"

"Oh?" the wind seraph's expression was filled with disappointment as he leaned back in his seat. "So you think they're butt ugly, huh? Shame."

"That's not what I meant at all," the Shepherd sighed.

Edna's deadpan expression didn't change at all in response to the exchange. "...Weirdos," she muttered, turning her head away disdainfully. By her side, Lailah shook her head in sympathetic disappointment.

Perched atop a crate of her own, Velvet paid the red-faced Shepherd no mind and glanced seriously at the two knights. "Sorry to break it to you," she said bluntly, "but Heldalf's forces are hellions. Taking them on with nothing but a ragged group of desperate humans won't result in anything but death."

Leo gave her a reproachful look in response. "Give me some credit, Velvet. I wasn't born yesterday." He glanced at the rest of them, chiefly towards Sorey. "We intend to hold Lastonbell as a foothold in Rolance," he explained. "With the support of a handful of seraphim, we'll carry out missions deeper within the country, gathering info and striking against key targets to help slow down Heldalf's consolidation of power and increase the duration of the unrest."

Mikleo crossed his arms, furrowing his brow in thought. "A guerilla operation, huh?" he remarked plainly. "I suppose it would be the only way forward, given the circumstances."

By his side, Lailah threaded her fingers together atop her lap. "Yes.... with the help of seraphim, such a plan just might be viable in the fight against the armies of the Lord of Calamity," she affirmed. "Truly, without the aid of the country of Hyland, this may be the best chance that the nation has at retaliation."

Shifting in his seat, Leo nodded in affirmation, a determined smile forming on his face. "That's the plan," he agreed. "We'll do all we can to give you folks as much time as possible to take him out, freeing Maotelus in the process."

Sergei laid a hand on the pommel of his sword, standing tall and resolute. "While I may admittedly not be as well-versed in the details of your quest, Shepherd, I am fully acquainted with our role in it." His elbow shot up into the air as he fell into an immaculate salute, firmly holding Sorey's gaze respectfully as he declared, "We, the Platinum Knights, will do every last thing we are capable of in order to further delay the usurper of the Rolance throne from gaining full control of the nation."

Velvet brought her bent leg closer to her torso as she shifted in her seat and turned her gaze to Sorey. "Looks like we have time on our hands," she prompted. "What do you intend to do?"

He returned her gaze, leaning forward in his seat while supporting his chin in thought. "...I've been thinking about that iris gem," he stated quietly. "I know Heldalf planted it for us to find. He corrupted it with Maotelus's power, but only to depict such a strange and particular memory..." He shook his head, furrowing his brow. "I think it's clear that he wants to tell us something. I find myself wanting to know what that something is. And I think it's likely that the one we found isn't the only one."

Mikleo frowned, crossing his arms. "If the byproduct of such gems is such an unnatural amplification of the subject's power like what we saw with that man yesterday, it shouldn't be too difficult to track any more down," he remarked. "...Though it may be too early to draw conclusions from a single case."

Leo hummed in response, idly reaching over to ruffle the fur of the wolf pup lying curled up beside him. "Going by what you've told us about what happened yesterday, I think we can let folks know to keep an eye out for similar abnormalities." He shrugged, giving Hawk a pat before returning his hand to his lap. "Though I wouldn't expect to hear anything back for a while. We've barely established a base in the region – the scouting missions won't start until a while."

"That's fine," Sorey replied, reaching down to his travel pack resting on the floor beside him. "I have plan."

With deft fingers, the Shepherd procured the familiar tome of the Celestial Record and thumbed his way through to a newly bookmarked page to show to the group. "...Here," he announced, pivoting the book around to display the opened page to the group. In the corner of the page appeared an artist's rendition of a distinctively built harbor city, captioned with the title of the location.

"Meliodas," he announced earnestly. "It's a port city close to the border between Hyland and Rolance on the eastern side of the continent. I thought I had read about it before!"

Mikleo examined the opened page with great interest. "Meliodas, the city named after the king of the Pax Meliodas era?" he asked, holding his hand to his chin.

Alisha tilted her head to the side. "If I recall my tutor's lessons correctly, the City of Meliodas was in truth not built during the Pax era," she recalled aloud. "The architects of the city supposedly obtained inspiration from stories of the past. The actual buildings themselves date back between seven to eight hundred years ago." She shook her head sadly. "Nowadays, the population is far smaller than it was back then, as the city has developed a notorious reputation for criminal activity."

Velvet angled herself back in her seat, narrowing her eyes as she considered the presented information. "...You're thinking the setting of the memory itself might be a hint?" she asked Sorey.

"Yes." The Shepherd bobbed his head, gesturing reasonably with his hands. "Why go through all that just to show us a vision of himself as a child? There has to be more to it than just that – especially factoring in everything you've told us about him. That's why I've concluded that the has to be a deeper connection between him and the city of Meliodas."

The therion tilted her head slightly to the side, raising an eyebrow. "In other words," she summarized bluntly, "it's a wild guess."

Mikleo came to his friend's defense. "Hypotheses are invaluable tools in the field of research," he pointed out, crossing his arms while coolly returning Velvet's gaze. "If Sorey thinks it's something worth investigating at Meliodas, there's a good chance it is."

Velvet waved her bandaged hand callously in the air. "Last I checked, hypotheses are supposed to be debated, not mindlessly accepted." Her expression hardened. "Regardless of who said it, I will not blindly follow along with plans that will lead to nothing more than wasted time and effort."

She glanced away; her eyes growing distant. "...There's far too much at stake for that."

Across the chamber, the last remaining squads were finishing unloading their supplies from the second carriage, carrying their own personal gear over to their quarters with tired looks. The main chamber had grown dimmer over the course of the group's conversation, with torches and lanterns being extinguished as the knights began to turn with the coming of what promised to be a trying day. Another stray breeze once again managed to find its way through the cracks in the ruins, generating a haunting moan as it swept through the ancient space only to perish within the endless hallowed stone walls.

Abruptly, Rose hopped to her feet, her boots landing on the stone bricks with a loud thump. "I say we go with Sorey's plan," she suggested sharply. "It sounds like Meliodas might be the best place we know of that might hold some dirt on Heldalf."

Lailah nodded her head slowly, sliding to her feet as well. "I must agree with Rose," she said. "There are not many options for us to proceed with. It might be better than choosing to wait for the situation here to stabilize."

Sorey shifted in his seat and met Velvet's piercing gaze. "We have to find more information on Heldalf somehow, Velvet. And these gems might hold the answers to how he came to be as he is now, what he's after, and how exactly he is linked to Maotelus." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees with a dead set expression. "The more clues we get, the better our chances at saving him."

"In other words," Zaveid interjected, an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. "We only got one shot – we gotta make sure it counts."

The Shepherd nodded, giving the wind seraph a thankful nod. "Right," he agreed.

Velvet's eyes were hard as she studied him in the silence that followed. Eventually, she rolled her wrist in a slight gesture. "Alright," she agreed softly, leaning back in her seat with the quiet clinking of metal. "Then I'll trust you on this one, Sorey."

Sorey smiled softly in return, giving a her a thankful nod. "I won't let you down," he promised firmly.

Following his words, with a firm tap on the ground with the tip of her umbrella, Edna stood up from her seat with a rather cross expression on her face.

"Since that's settled, I'm going back to bed," she announced dully, immediately stepping away from the group. She paused, however, long enough to glance over her shoulder at Sorey. "...If you ever pull something like what you did again, I'll flatten you like a pancake," she stated darkly, causing the Shepherd to wince. With that, the intimidating earth seraph stepped away from the group, slipping between the humans walking through the main chamber to return to her bed.

In her wake, Zaveid let out a low whistle, lithely slipping off his pile of crates to the floor. "Better keep that in mind, Sorey," he warned sagely, patting the young man heavily on the shoulder. "Believe me, that's one gorgeous woman you really don't wanna cross."

Mikleo glared at him. "Whose fault was all this in the first place, again?" he muttered dourly.

With a plan forward having been decided, the group moved to follow Edna's lead, rising from their seats to head to their respective chambers for the night. Lailah covered her unladylike yawn with her hand as she stepped away, careful to navigate between the remaining squads of knights with Rose at her side. Sergei stopped to exchange a word with Alisha, who agreed to walk with him to the temporary stables deeper within Tintagel. Sorey and Mikleo returned together with Zaveid following at a lazy pace, casually stretching his arms in the wake of an entertaining night.

Velvet chose to stay in place, watching as the remaining stragglers of the Platinum Knights finalized preparations for the morning offensive amidst the dimly lit chamber. She glanced over as Hawk quietly trotted over to her, lithely hopping onto the crate and nuzzling her affectionately. A small smile forming on her face, she responded in kind, wordlessly reaching down to run her fingers through the wolf pup's grey fur.

"Yeah so, sorry about Zaveid."

Leo had an exasperated look on his face as he walked over to the two, in the process of tiredly running his hand through his hair. "I barely noticed that he had slipped away from the group today – figures that he wasn't up to anything good. I'll try and keep a better eye on him from now on." He crossed his arms, a sly grin forming on his face as he observed her expression. "...Noticed you went easy on Sorey, though," he remarked dryly. "Relatively speaking."

She huffed in response, gently pressing her fingers behind Hawk's ears to the pup's pleasure. "It was obvious it wasn't intentional," she pointed out dryly. "He's painfully predictable like that."

"I'll take your word for it," Leo supposed wryly, turning around and leaning against the stack of crates beside her.

Together, the two of them stayed there, watching as the activity in the main chamber of Tintagel Ruins slowly died down, returning the vast underground space to a state of quiet solitude once more. Hawk let out a yawn, curling his body up and closing his eyes, savoring the idle actions of Velvet's hand as she continued to pet him.

"...Hey. I'm glad you chose what you did, Velvet."

The man's words were soft and earnest as he stared out into the chamber, idly tugging at the straps of his gauntlet blade. "I really am." he remarked, glancing over his shoulder at the therion. Before she could respond however, the bespectacled man abruptly pushed himself off the crates. "Oh, and one more thing," he added, glancing over his shoulder with a wry glint in his eyes, "You should probably go up top for some fresh air," he suggested. "The weather's nice outside."

Velvet raised an eyebrow at that. "...Alright then," she agreed after a moment, sliding in her seat towards the edge of the crate.

Hawk, disturbed by the movement, pushed himself to his paws and hopped off as well, trotting over to his master. Leo tossed a hand over his shoulder in farewell as the two of them left, leaving her be.

Following what the man had said, the therion chose to leave the main hall, traversing the deserted halls of the ruins until she arrived at the long metal ladder leading up to the surface. Her steel boots clanking on iron, she ascended upwards through the darkness before pushing the heavy stone slab upward, allowing a patch of cool night air to rush into the ruins behind her.

It didn't take long for her to hear the quiet tones of the conversation taking place atop the weathered ruins scattered about the ground above the Tintagel Ruins. The indistinct silhouettes of the vast, towering trees of the Volgran Forest encompassed her world as she walked through the tranquil night air, her boots sinking silently into the lush grass of the forest floor. Somewhere, an owl uttered a series of hoots, its calls resounding hauntingly off the towering trunks of the surrounding trees.

"...Grimoirh?" Bienfu's voice was quiet and subdued, barely audible over the indistinct shuffling of the windswept canopy far, far overhead. "How...how do you handle it?"

A quiet hum filled in the air in response. "Ah. It's one of those nights, I see," the normin observed mildly. She let out a resigned sigh, pointing out, "Three centuries have passed, and yet you still cling to the past as a mother pengyon did its young."

Bienfu's reply was reproachful. "I am not 'clinging' to anything," he stated grouchily with a huff. "We normin live for thousands of years – three centuries is a teeny tiny span for us! It's only natural that I feel like this every now and then."

"Does that sentiment help you sleep any better at night, I wonder?" Grimoirh contemplated aloud, her words of a pointed nature. "Does it help fill the hole in your chest as you wander about in the day, haunting buildings like a ghost from one of those ridiculous human urban legends?" She sighed, shaking her head. "Somehow, I truly doubt that is the case."

There was a pause as Bienfu winced at her words. "Yowch..." he mumbled weakly, "You sure don't pull any punches, huh Grimoirh?"

The older normin huffed quietly as she adjusted her glasses. "You ought to remember who you're talking to," she reminded him. "I myself have gone through this very cycle more than enough times. To answer your question, how do I handle it, the fact of the matter is that I merely do not do silly things like grow excessively attached to others. That is all."

Bienfu's head drooped as low as it could as he slumped backwards in his seat atop the ruined column. "Bien," he mumbled weakly, his top hat tilting to the side on his head. "I was... afraid you were gonna say that," he admitted.

Standing at his side, Grimoirh shrugged lightly. "Then you should have refrained from asking," she stated simply. "I simply do not believe there is much for you to glean from this exchange, other than to simply understand the consequences of attaching yourself to beings who have far shorter lifespans than us."

Velvet's voice rang into the cold night air in response. "If that's what you believe, then what are you doing here?"

Bienfu's eyes widened in surprise in recognition of her voice. He whirled around on the spot, barely managing to keep the slipping top hat on his head straight in the process as he found her walking up the crumbling steps of the ruins towards them. "Velvet!" he exclaimed brightly.

Grimoirh's voice was smooth and unaffected as she answered the therion's question. "I am here because there is a fine line between attachment and investment," she replied succinctly, turning around as Velvet came to a halt atop the ruins behind them.

She raised her paws in an exasperated shrug with a shake of her head, adding, "Though it has proven quite a hassle thus far. When that Leo fellow came to me, begging me for my assistance, he had failed to mention that the providing of such would eventually tear me away from my refined bed in the capital in favor of a collection of crumbling stones," she huffed, disdainfully observing her surroundings.

Velvet put a hand on her hip, looking down at the book-wearing normin with amusement. "Yeah. Those really were quite the lengths to go for your 'investment,'" she remarked wryly. "Looks like Laphicet really hit it off with you, huh?" Her words were warm.

An unpleasant expression had formed on Grimoirh's face in response.

"...By all means, put as many words in my mouth as you wish," she allowed with a sigh, waving a paw disdainfully in the air. "But need I remind you that should I leave, your group of desperate Platinum Knights will be shorter still of seraphim in their ranks?"

By her side, a soft grin had developed on Bienfu's expression. He glanced sidewise at Velvet with a sly grin. "It's probably best that you leave it at that, Velvet," he chuckled, waving his arms by his sides while bobbing up and down. "Good 'ol Grimoirh just isn't used to showing affection for others."

He glanced back only to flinch wildly at the coolly murderous glare that the other normin was displaying.

Velvet's soft smile remained on her face as she walked up the remaining steps to the crumbling stone platform atop which the two normin were, stepping up to the edge to look out into the vast, darkened expanse of the Volgran Forest. Her black coat flapped behind her amidst a cool night breeze, the metal on her outfit tinkling softly as she crossed her arms.

"...Seven hundred more years, huh?" she remarked quietly, her breath misting in the air before her. "I'm honestly impressed that witch lived on for so long."

Despite himself, Bienfu puffed his chest and pressed his paws against his hips, declaring, "It's all thanks to my protection as Miss Magilou's loyal servant!" he crowed. "The adventures that we had... the hardships that we endured... the stories that we recorded...!" He hopped erratically around atop the stone platform in enthusiasm. "Biieeen! It was the stuff of legends!"

Velvet stared on into the darkness past the enormous tree trunks in the distance, her smile slowly growing stale on her lips.

"I don't doubt that, Bienfu," she replied quietly. "I expected nothing less from her."

Somewhere, amidst the vast web of branches and leaves far, far overhead, the hooting owl resumed its simple melody, calling out gently into the stillness of the enormous forest. Elsewhere, the distant howls of a pack of canines echoed out, meshing together to create a truly unnerving harmony echoing off the trunks of the towering trees.

"I could have said the same when you first stumbled upon me months ago." Grimoirh's quiet words fluttered into the still night air. She adjusted her glasses with her paw as she padded up to the edge alongside the therion, pensively staring out into the darkness. "You were ever more so the same," she remarked.

The therion crossed her arms, thinking back to the time the normin was referring to. "By sheer chance, I managed to find you back in Ladylake, following some rumors about a haunted house," she recalled markedly, glancing upwards towards the distant canopy blotting out the moonlight above. "But you didn't seem surprised in the slightest when you saw me, even though a thousand years had passed for you."

"But of course," Grimoirh replied smoothly, her paws swaying gently by her sides. "The very moment that I first detected the disappearance of Maotelus's domain from the land, I knew without a doubt that you would return. I knew you would stop at positively nothing to save the one who you yourself had become attached to." Her gaze rose towards the therion standing beside her, a knowing glint in her eyes.

"I expected nothing less," she purred meaningfully.

Velvet glanced over her shoulder at the familiar normin, a frown forming on her face. "...You were also the one who guided me to Sorey in the first place," she pointed out slowly.

Grimoirh bobbed her head smoothly. "Indeed I was," she confirmed, light reflecting off the crystal clear lenses of her glasses. "Let us simply say that my... 'investment' is not strictly limited to the well-being of Maotelus."

With that, the normin turned around, idly readjusting the book strapped over her shoulder as she began to walk away. "Come along, Bienfu," she prompted as her paws fell upon the stone brick with soft, recurring squeaks. "The humans ought to have all finished their noisy clamoring by now. Perhaps now I may finally be able to reap a modicum of peaceful rest after all of that."

Blinking, Bienfu hopped to attention in response to her words, following behind her towards the steps leading down the crumbling ruins. "You got it, Grimoirh!" he exclaimed affirmatively. "Anything you need at all tonight, you just let me know. I'll bravely fight off any human who tries to take your bed! They won't even touch you; I promise!" he declared feistily.

The other normin shook her head in exasperation. "While your dedication is remarkably admirable," she stated at length, "if you are expecting me to abuse you as your last master did, I must warn that you will be sorely disappointed."

The top-hat wearing normin froze in shock in response. "B-bien...!" he stammered in horror. "I... I didn't even realize...!"

A split second of shocked silence passed before the dam burst and tears poured down the normin's cheeks. "BIEEEEN!!! M-M-M-Miss Magilou... I... I miss you so muuuch!!!" he bawled loudly, springing up into the night air with loud sobs of grief.

Grimoirh sighed again as the other normin's loud cries echoed off the surrounding tree trunks, turning around partially to glance back at Velvet's wide-eyed look. "Precisely like I said," she observed dryly, "A ghost from some silly urban legend." Her expression grew serious however, as she studied the therion one last time, pursing her lips.

Behind her, the sorrowful calls of the lost seraph began to ebb, returning the shadowed world to one of tranquility.

"...Second chances are rare in the world in which we live," she stated quietly, her voice barely a murmur. The lenses of her glasses flashed briefly as she returned her gaze forward, turning away from the therion. "Do keep that in mind, Velvet."

Behind her, Velvet glanced away in response to her words, her raven hair hiding her expression from view. "You should go and get some rest, Grim," she suggested softly, tapping her index finger on her bicep amidst the silence. "I think you've somehow forgotten who you've been talking to."

Her words made the normin chortle. "Well then... perhaps I have," she agreed smoothly.

With that, she stepped forward and resumed her descent downwards, leaving Velvet by herself atop the stone platform surrounded by the quiet sounds of the sleeping forest. The therion stood for a long while after she had left, her long hair and jacket waving in the chilly night breeze, listening to the sounds of silence atop the weathered stone brick of an ancient, crumbling structure.

---​

A small flock of migrating birds soared overhead in a V-pattern, flitting across the dimming haze of the setting sun in cloudy skies painted with hues of gold and orange in their endless journey south. A fell autumn breeze carried effortlessly through the vast rolling hills of the surrounding countryside, driving waves through the sea of dry, yellowed grass and eliciting a soft, mesmerizing harmony of shifting foliage in its wake. The group's footfalls on the well-tread dirt road punctuated the subtle sounds of the wild as they traveled onward as one, following the path sneaking its way up the hill through the growing shadows of the evening hours.

Lailah's heels crackled subtly in the dry earth as she came to a halt at the crest of the hill, squinting her eyes and holding a hand up to throw shade over her face as she gazed outward. Her red seraphic dress and long flowing hair fluttered in the wind behind her as she allowed her eyes to adjust to the light of the setting sun. Through the bright orange rays, she managed to discern the outlines of wood and stone dwellings, gathered together in the center of the valley below.

"Everyone, we've arrived. The village is just down there," the fire seraph announced, turning around towards the rest of the group arriving behind her.

Rose hummed in satisfaction as she laid eyes upon the gathering of buildings in the valley. "That puts us right on schedule," she remarked, crossing her arms. "From here, Meliodas should be just one more day's travel away."

Mikleo put a hand to his chin as he examined the well-organized fields surrounding the village below, the loose fabric hanging from his outfit waving in the wind behind him. "...It looks peaceful," he observed neutrally, his eyes carefully taking in the small figures of the human residents walking through the farms. "The chaos in Rolance doesn't appear to have taken an obvious toll here, even though they're living right at the border."

As the group resumed walking as one, following the path down into the valley towards the village, Alisha bobbed her head in agreement. "This village is among a small number of Hyland border towns," she explained. "These types of places often receive increased security directly from the Royal Family as a result of rising tensions between the two nations."

"I see." Sorey replied as he walked, adjusting the straps of the travel pack on his shoulders. "Sounds like it should be a safe place for us to rest tonight."

At his side, Edna twirled her umbrella amidst the soft glow of the setting sun. "So long as nobody recognizes any of you," she pointed out apathetically. "We are back in Hyland after all, remember?"

Sorey winced in response, scratching his head sheepishly. "Right..."

Velvet crossed her arms as she walked, her steel boots crunching in the dirt underfoot. "Don't draw unnecessary attention to yourself," she advised heavily. "Remember, we're going out of our way to investigate the iris gem as is. The last thing we need now is for Hyland to catch wind of our presence here."

Alisha bobbed her head dully in agreement with the therion. "That would be most prudent," she concurred. "Should our position in Tintagel Ruins be revealed, the Platinum Knights would once again be displaced, and our efforts would subsequently be further slowed, allowing Heldalf to continue his acquisition of power unimpeded."

Mikleo smiled dryly as he let his hand fall from his chin. "...Guess it's a good thing those wanted posters of you were so ugly, huh?" he prompted Sorey wryly, who made a face in return.

The remainder of the descent was spent in a calm silence as the group continued to follow the winding trail through the yellowing grass and into the sprawling farmland of the valley. Worn wooden fences rose from the trampled foliage by the side of the road, protecting the fields of partially harvested crop beyond. Boot prints dotted the dirt path alongside recent horse hoof imprints – evidence of farmers returning with heavy carriages laden with the day's harvest. With each step in the well-worn path closer to the village, more signs of civilization became evident.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

The sudden authoritative demand resounded loudly through the cooling autumn air, drawing the group to an abrupt halt in the dirt path not far from the village. "Don't any of you move a muscle, you hear?!"

Mikleo fell carefully into a ready stance, his eyes narrowed as he searched for the source of the voice. "...Sorey," he prompted urgently, pointing his index finger towards two reinforced guard towers flanking the entrance to the village. Following the seraph's gaze, the Shepherd's eyes widened as he recognized the subtle glint of arrowheads angled directly towards them from atop the towers.

At his side, Dezel crossed his arms with a dry grunt. "So much for not attracting unnecessary attention," he muttered.

"Oh no." Lailah mumbled in worry. "Could they have recognized us already?"

Velvet's eyes were narrowed as she scrutinized their covered opponents with her enhanced vision, her body tense as a bowstring in the face of the threat. "...There's no way," she replied lowly. "At this distance, it would be impossible."

A deep-seated frown on her face, Alisha stepped forward, her steel greaves crunching loudly in the tense silence, and called out towards the guards in the tower. "What is the meaning of this?!" she demanded, her voice carrying over the breeze. "What cause have you to draw arms against your fellow countrymen?!"

A pregnant pause followed in the wake of her demand. The group stood at the ready in the tense silence, their hands close to their weapons in preparation for conflict. In the distance, above the hills of the valley, the setting sun continued to hover with bated breath.

Eventually, the initial voice responded in kind. "What business do you people have here?" came the replying challenge.

Sorey took the cue to step up alongside Alisha, choosing to raise a hand in a well-meaning greeting to the wary guards in the towers. "We're headed to Meliodas," he called, briefly shooting a glance at Mikleo who replied with an encouraging gesture. "We're scholars from Marlind, you see. We're only looking to stay for the night!"

Another pause followed before the voice responded.

"...Far be it for me to judge what others do," the guard remarked, all hostility in his voice now absent. "Fine, you all can enter."

"Thank you!" Sorey called back, a relieved smile on his face.

Mikleo and Lailah gave Sorey a grin and a thumbs-up apiece as the group resumed walking, the tense moment having passed. Rose chuckled as they approached the entrance to the village proper. "So... how many times did you rehearse that little white lie of yours?" she asked casually.

The Shepherd put his hands on his hips with a rather proud look on his face. "A little more than a hundred times," he answered smoothly. "Mikleo and Lailah coached me!"

At the back of the group, Dezel laid a hand on his top hat. "You're hopeless," he muttered.

The barking of a dog echoed into the air as the group walked through the well-worn dirt of the village entrance, passing between the two imposing guard towers in the process. A group of guards wearing the colors of the Hyland Royal Army hailed them, descending from one of the towers while carefully handling longbows and arrows in their arms.

"Apologies for the unpleasant welcome," one of them greeted as they stopped at the base of the tower, giving Alisha a respectful nod. "We've been having trouble with a group of outsiders recently. We thought you all might be part of them."

"A group of outsiders?" the princess asked, tilting her head inquisitively. "Do you perhaps mean refugees from Rolance?"

One of the other guards immediately turned his head and spat into the ground. "'Refugees.' Don't give me that codswallop. They're Rolance dogs, short and simple," He chuckled darkly.

Another guard split into a wide grin as he idly twirled a wooden arrow in his off hand. "Not our fault that their holy emperor went and got impaled by some nobody who took over the throne, is it?" he reasoned easily. "We're at war with their country – that group of dogs should've been glad we let them live at all."

"I see their mugs around here once more, I can promise ya that won't happen again," a different guard chuckled, resting a scabbarded sword on his shoulder. "We don't get all that much action here after all – nobody will miss a few rats on a ship, yeah?"

The first guard that had spoken nodded in agreement, turning back to Alisha with a dedicated, well-meaning smile. "Don't you worry about all this, miss," he reassured calmly. "Their little coup might've thrown their country into chaos, but we proud Hyland men are here, protecting normal folk like you from overflowing vermin like them." He gave the four of them a respectful nod. "I wish you well on your journey to Meliodas," he stated in farewell.

With that having been said, the guards moved on to go about their duties, leaving the group standing there in their wake.

Alisha's hands had curled up into fists by her side.

Sorey watched the men leave mutely, before turning towards the princess, worry forming in his expression. "Alisha..."

She turned towards the rest of them, shaking her head with her lips pressed into a thin line. "...It's okay," she said quietly, her troubled expression clearly contradicting her uttered words. "Let us ask the residents for directions to the inn."

They walked in silence for the remainder of the journey, surrounded by the immersive sounds of civilization in complete contrast to the solitude of travel. Ceramic dishes clacked repetitively as dinner plates were stacked atop one another inside of a house with windows opened to the cooling air. Housewives gossiped as they returned home from the market, baskets of goods in their arms. A group of children giggled as they played with toys in a patch of yellowing grass outside of the schoolhouse.

The group came to a halt outside of a reasonably sized wood and stone inn demarcated with the universal sign of a crescent moon beside the door. Having arrived at their destination, Lailah glanced up beyond the rooftops of the surrounding buildings to gauge the progress of the sun sinking beyond the hills of the valley.

"It would seem that we have some time left before sundown," she observed, breaking the silence. "We should resupply for the journey tomorrow, just in case."

Velvet rested a hand on her hip, also glancing up at the sun. "We'll meet back here at nightfall, then," she stated.

The group nodded in assent.

The plan having been decided, the seraphim and humans split up naturally into groups underneath the soft, golden light of the setting sun, seeking to do what they pleased in a fleeting moment of rest.

---​

Particles of dust danced within the diffused orange sunlight filtering through the weathered glass windows, swirling calmly between the scores of colorful ceramic goods lining the wooden aisles of the store. Fading blue pastel paint accented with decorative red cloth covered the walls, accenting the small, cozy space with an artistic flair that complemented the multitudes of figurines, platters, and bowls resting patiently upon the shelves.

Lailah's expression was muted as she wrapped her fingers around an especially ornate bowl atop one of the shelves, lifting it with a quiet sigh of ceramic sliding on polished wood. She cradled it before her with both hands, staring distantly at the jagged designs etched onto the smooth, polished surface. Her indistinct reflection gazed back up at her from the surface of the bowl, warped near beyond all recognition by the rounded walls of the peculiar bowl.

"People will freak out if they see that floating in the air, Lailah."

Old, weathered wooden floorboards squeaked underneath Mikleo's boots as he stepped down the small aisle to her side, crossing his arms curiously at the sight. Lailah reacted belatedly to his presence, her distant eyes blinking slowly as if she had been roused from a fleeting dream. She eventually shook her head in response, her long hair sliding from side to side behind her back.

"You needn't be concerned. There is no one here save the owner, who is fast asleep." she replied, carefully adjusting her grasp on the bowl. "I suppose not many people visit this store of his."

Mikleo shifted his weight on his feet as he ran his eyes down the length of the aisle before them. "There's great deal of variety here, with plenty of experimentation using differing art styles," he observed markedly, turning around to observe the opposite aisle behind Lailah. "You can really tell how much he cares for his craft. It's a shame this store isn't more popular."

His gaze eventually came to rest upon the bowl in the other seraph's hands. He tilted his head slightly to the side curiously as he noted the peculiar look that had resurfaced on Lailah's expression. "...Something wrong?" he prompted.

She shook her head absently, her gaze affixed upon the consistent patterns upon the surface of the ceramic object. "This bowl seems... familiar to me, somehow," she replied softly, a strange quality to her voice.

Mikleo's gaze fell to the bowl in her hands, intrigue forming in his expression. After a moment he observed, "There's a consistent, strict structure in the etchings, alongside a defined color palette consisting of subtle, royal colors that give it an overall emphasis on order. This suggests that this bowl was at least in part inspired by an art style dating back to the Asgard Unification Period."

Her troubled expression only deepened in response to his words. "The Asgard Unification Period," she repeated slowly, a strange look in her eyes, "known by some as the time of Graceful Asgard, one thousand years ago, yes?"

"That's right." The water seraph nodded, raising a bent finger up to his chin. "These patterns closely resemble the designs of some of the ruins we've explored from that same time. That's probably why they seem so familiar to you."

Lailah nodded slowly in response. "...I see. Yes, you're probably correct," she replied quietly.

In the silence that followed, Mikleo's gaze drifted to the side, his lips drawing into a thin line. "Graceful Asgard... That was the time period during which Velvet was the Lord of Calamity, huh?" he observed tersely, his expression growing hard.

At his words, the Lailah's gaze slowly rose from the bowl to observe the emotions clear in her companion's expression. She found however, that she had nothing to say, so she chose to remain silent.

When he opened his eyes again, the tension had faded from his face. He turned his head to the side, distantly watching the specks of dust drifting aimlessly in the light of the setting sun through the hazy windows. "Lailah?" he asked quietly. "Have you ever done things... that you wish you might've handled differently?"

The fire seraph shifted on her feet restlessly in response, still cradling the bowl in her hands. "...Yes." Her quiet reply was deeply regretful as she nodded her head somberly. "Many things." she admitted, idly rotating the bowl in her hands with her slender fingers.

Her heels landed upon the squeaking floorboards of the store with the subtle groaning of worn wood as she walked slowly down the aisle, her long styled hair waving amidst the rays of golden light and dancing dust. She stepped up to the window and gazed into the hazy mist of the unwashed glass, observing the keen sadness in the eyes of her reflection staring back at her.

"The blunders of my past and my inability to speak plainly as a result of my oath..." She shook her head ruefully, her gaze falling back down towards the familiar item in her hand. "Truly. There are times in which I feel almost useless."

His boots fell on the squeaking floorboards behind her as he came to a halt in the aisle behind her in the streaming light of the setting sun. "...I've been feeling the same," he admitted an honest expression on his face. "I accompanied Sorey on his journey because I believed in him and his dream. I came because I wanted to help – to support him through what would undoubtably be tough times for him."

He glanced away with his lips drawn into at thin line. "Yet right now, it feels as if I'm helpless to stop the things happening before my very eyes," he admitted tersely. "I'm worried that he'll lose sight of that dream of his. That he'll end up forgetting the person who he was when he first left Elysia with me."

He shook his head, his eyes distant. "He's changed so much already. To think he would be so different than he was before to freely allow her to walk alongside him... After everything that she's done."

Lailah slowly turned around, a soft expression on her face as she considered the water seraph standing partially in the stream of orange light behind her. In her hands, the bowl gleamed vibrantly, the jagged etchings almost seeming to come alive in a flowing, repeating pattern amidst the warm lighting.

Abruptly, she shook her head with force. "Well," she supposed, a soft smile returning to her expression, "the two of us won't get anywhere simply standing around worrying ourselves to death. We should both do best that we can," she proposed, holding the bowl close to her chest.

Mikleo's expression lightened as he put a hand on his hip in response. "That sounds exactly like something Sorey would say," he observed wryly. "Maybe he's rubbing off on you."

Lailah tilted her head to the side, seemingly amused by the suggestion. "Perhaps he is."

"G-GH-GH-GHO... GHOST!!!"

The hysterical scream of an old man pierced the interior of the cozy shop causing both seraphim to jump in surprise. The two whirled around to find the old man who owned the store standing at the other end of the aisle, his eyes bulging in disbelief and horror at the bowl that had floated off its place on the shelf to hover in midair before the window.

A split second passed before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted in shock, a plume of dust puffing out from the floor where his body landed. Lailah and Mikleo stared at the unconscious man in the awkward silence that followed.

"Oh dear..." Lailah mumbled, her cheeks growing red.

---​

Rose's boots crackled in well-trodden dirt as she walked down the wide path, her surroundings basked in the golden rays of the sun setting beyond the distant hills of the valley. Two-story houses constructed with white stucco walls accented with oak boards lined the main throughfare of the small village on both sides, calmly watching her as she passed. Her travel pack, laden with freshly purchased goods for the remainder of the group's journey, bumped subtly against her back with every step.

A dog from inside one of the houses began to bark defensively at her through the open window as she passed, only to be promptly shushed by its owner moments later. She gave the villager who had done so a friendly nod as she passed before returning her gaze forward, calmly gazing down the sparsely populated street and into the light of the setting sun beyond. Villagers travelled the path, gossiping about the latest news with each other as they went about their final evening errands.

"...for now." She tilted her head curiously to the side as she caught wind of a conversation taking place in front of a store nearby. "I don't expect the crop to stay that way, though. We should count ourselves as lucky we were even able to harvest anything at all this year."

The woman the farmer had been talking to brought her arm close to her chest in worry. "That's awful..." she mumbled, shaking her head. "To think, things could get this bad so quickly."

At those words, Rose changed direction, deviating from her path towards the front of the store.

"Hi there." She briefly waved her hand amicably in greeting, drawing the attention of the two villagers. "Sorry, I kinda overheard you guys talking," she apologized, coming to a halt before them. She gave them an inquisitive look, asking, "Is the famine getting worse?"

The farmer crossed his burly arms. "Afraid so," he confirmed grimly. "Everyone might be celebrating the coup in Rolance, but what they don't seem to remember is that the majority of the food that we eat is grown in the fields of that country." He heaved a heavy sigh, shaking his head. "With the chaos, everything is grinding to a halt. Fields won't be harvested, the blight will spread at will, and trade will evaporate completely."

"With what my brother is saying," the woman added, a sympathetic expression on her face, "we'll be in for a long winter. I have merchant friends who are all being forced to charge more for food right now. I can't imagine what will happen if the supply of food cuts off completely."

Rose nodded deeply in response, her eyebrows furrowing thought. "Sounds rough," she noted seriously. "Thanks. Good luck to you both."

"Likewise," the farmer replied respectfully. "I imagine all of us will need a healthy helping of luck in the coming days."

With that, Rose continued on her way, quietly mulling over the information that she had uncovered. Arriving at a juncture in the main pathway, the merchant picked a heading at random and continued onward, the setting sun now casting her long shadow alongside her as she walked.

"...Things are looking bad."

Rose didn't look over her shoulder at the wind seraph walking at her side, his light movements barely detectible even to her trained senses. She instead turned her gaze to the opposite direction, idly observing her surroundings as she passed by.

"You mean the famine?" she replied, her words spoken at a subtle volume she knew he'd hear. "Might be. But things will be alright in the end with Sorey and the others' help," she stated firmly. "Stuff like this is what the Shepherd's for, after all."

Dezel's lips upturned into a scowl. He abruptly stepped forward and stood in front of Rose, halting her in her tracks in the middle of the empty dirt pathway in front of closed stores in the light of the setting sun. He crossed his arms meaningfully at her inquisitive look.

"Don't always assume everything will just work out," he warned lowly. "Life isn't like that. One day, when you least expect it, everything will fall apart."

Rose's eyebrows narrowed.

"How would you know about that?" she shot back, crossing her arms as well. "You're always distancing yourself away from everything, keeping everybody around you at an arm's length and never making an effort to explain yourself." She frowned, tilting her head while raising an expectant eyebrow at the seraph. "...If you don't actively work to make things good, then how can you complain when things go bad?" she asked pointedly.

Dezel's jagged teeth showed as his scowl deepened. "Listen," he began darkly, only to glance off to the side, sealing his lips shut.

Rose waited expectantly for him to continue. "Well?" she prompted.

She received no answer in response. She exhaled at length, shaking her head. "There you go, clamming up again." She stepped around him and came to a halt, staring forward down the deserted street with her lips drawn into a thin line. "...If you don't have anything else to say, then let's just get going already."

Taking his habitual silence as an answer, she resumed her steps forward, walking on through the village. As she did so, she absently noted the subtle sounds of Dezel's boots as he too resumed walking, following her at a distant pace without a word. In their wake, the solitary dirt street returned to silence, laying calmly amidst the scattered sounds of civilization.

---​

A chilly breeze washed over the shadows of the sloping plains and wafted over Alisha's face, brushing her hair to the side as she leant against the aging wooden fence. A herd of cattle roamed near the outskirts of the village in the fenced field beyond, grazing beside the small river winding its way down the floor of the valley in the dimming light of the sunset. Their idle mooing punctuated the constant sound of rustling grass as she stayed there, a deeply troubled expression on her face.

"Still thinking about what those guards said?"

Alisha blinked in surprise as Edna walked up behind her with an inquisitive expression, yellowing grass crunching lightly under her oversized boots. After a moment, she turned her eyes down to the ground, returning her gaze forward while pursing her lips. "I'm afraid so," she admitted.

Edna went ahead and sat down on a rock jutting out of the ground beside the princess, her umbrella twirling slightly in her grip in response to the movement. She turned her head to the side, also staring out towards the herd of grazing cattle and the shadowed fields beyond.

"It shouldn't surprise you," she pointed out. "This is just how humans are. Selfish and ignorant."

The princess turned her head slightly, the frown on her face deepening. "Those guards, the councilmen... even Lady Maltran," she breathed dejectedly. She turned to face her companion fully; her eyes almost fragile as she sought any amount of reconciliation from the mythical seraph. "Do you truly believe that this is the fate that we are doomed to, Edna? To spend our final days bickering and cursing each other... blind to the concepts of compassion and consideration."

The hateful words of the village guards still resounded in the princess's ears, long after they had been so spitefully uttered. The words of her fellow countrymen.

Edna didn't immediately respond to her imploring gaze, continuing to watch the herd of cattle moving slowly across the pasture, idly rotating the amber fabric of her umbrella atop her shoulder in the silence. Another breeze gusted across the open space, bringing with it the cold of night that caused the princess to shiver slightly.

"'Seraphim coexisting with humans,' huh?"

The earth seraph shook her head ever so slightly, continuing to stare outward as her short hair was disturbed by cool autumn wind flowing across the pasture. "Honestly? I don't care for Sorey's dream," she stated simply, giving her umbrella a partial twirl. "I think it's silly. Humans will always be dumb and stupid, finding a way to ruin anything thanks to their greed."

Her lips drew into a thin line as her gaze drifted upwards, to the hills encompassing the valley and the mountains beyond. "...I'm only here for my brother's sake. That's all."

Alisha let out a quiet breath as she returned her gaze forward, shifting more of her body weight onto the fence before her. She slid her eyes closed, concentrating on the feeling of the breeze wafting against her face amidst the sounds and smells of rustling grass.

"I believed," the princess began, before shaking her head and starting again, "no, I hoped that humanity will be able to come together. That we as a species would be able to recognize the collective threats to our lives and find within ourselves the capacity for peace." She brought her gauntleted hands together atop the fence, interlinking her fingers while pursuing her lips indecisively. "To that end, I fought and still will fight," she stated.

"Yet at times like these..." She shook her head dismally, sliding her eyes to stare down at the yellowing grass below. "It seems so futile," she whispered. Her words were almost inaudible – an admission of indecision that seemed almost a betrayal of her own convictions.

"Humanity will always fail you. It is simply in their nature."

Her former master's words rang in her ears clear as day, blocking out the sounds of nature with a horrible clarity. Her teeth set together as she closed her eyes tightly, bowing her head as the emotions threatened to well up inside of her.

Silence fell between the two of them in the wake of her words. In the distance, a cow that had strayed away from the herd raised her head into the air, uttering a low, warbling moo that carried through the increasingly colder air of the valley. Edna turned her head to the side, observing the quietly distraught princess hunched over atop the fence beside her. Eventually, she spoke.

"...You worry too much."

Alisha's eyes blinked open in surprise. She raised her head and glanced at the seraph with wide eyes, who returned her gaze with a slight, meaningful tilt of her head.

Another stray breeze pushed its way across the floor of the shadowed valley, bringing along with it the crisp scents of autumn with a hint of moisture, disturbing their hair as they rested together at the outskirts of the village. Despite the cold, the princess found a subtle warmth slowly blooming in her chest as she returned her gaze forward, this time facing upwards towards the orange skies above. "...Thank you, Edna," she mumbled softly, her hair sweeping about her face in the wind.

The two of them remained there in a companionable silence, watching as the sun slowly sank in the skies above in a brilliant vista of yellow and golden streaks.

---​

Water bubbled calmly in the small river winding its way around the outskirts of the village, obscured in parts by the shadows of yellowing trees growing in the fertile dirt of the riverbank. Small fish darted about lazily in the clear waters, wearing scales of grey and black that allowed them to become almost invisible amidst the shadows. Having been following the winding path alongside the river, Sorey was abruptly torn from the tranquil scene at the distinct sound of a four-legged animal loping towards him.

He turned on the spot towards the incoming animal, his boots grinding in the dirt as his hand fell readily to the pommel of his sword. He fell into a fighting stance as a vicious looking dog abruptly leapt out from between the tree trunks, its hackles raised in a silent growl.

"Whoa there!" Sorey extended his offhand placatingly as the dog began to circle him at a distance, its inhuman eyes fixated on him with an unnerving intensity. "I'm not looking for any trouble, promise," he explained, maintaining his calm tone while still gripping the pommel of his sword sheathed at his waist. He gestured to the side questioningly. "Do you want me to leave?"

The animal came to a slow halt at his words, tilting its head almost imperceptibly to the side as it continued to stare at him unerringly. Then, following a tense pause, it seemed to relax, still maintaining a fixed gaze on the human before him.

Sorey raised a curious eyebrow at the animal's behavior, tentatively releasing his sword in kind.

"Gray!"

A foreign voice called out into the air, drawing both their attention to the pathway as an older man wearing well-worn clothing emerged from beyond the trees. The stranger instantly took in the scene between Sorey and the dog and acted accordingly, sticking his index finger and thumb into his mouth and whistling sharply. "Go on, Gray," he advised the dog, gesturing off to the side.

The animal seemed to stare back at the man for a few moments before eventually following through, taking one more glance at Sorey before turning away and wandering off between the trees of the riverbank.

The Shepherd watched the dog go curiously before turning around as the farmer approached, an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry about him," the stranger said, nodding towards it as it sniffed idly about the trees. "He can get combative when it comes to travelers. Seems alright with you, though."

Sorey followed his gaze and watched the dog as well, remarking, "He's really smart. Almost thought he could understand me with the way he was looking at me."

The farmer nodded. "Aye. I've always thought that as well." At Sorey's look, he elaborated, "Found him injured a few years ago. Near bit my leg off when I patched him up, but he ended up following me home. It's been that way ever since."

"He became your pet just like that?" Sorey asked, watching as the animal in question wandered about their surroundings, always seeming to keep the two of them in its peripheral vision. "That's amazing."

He shook his head in response, waving a hand in the air. "I wouldn't call him a pet. I've never taken leash nor lash to him – I wouldn't dare. Gray has been and will always be a wild animal for the rest of his life. I know he's only here because he wants to."

He tapped the side of his head. "When walking alongside a being with such sharp, wild instincts, the most important thing is that you need to know exactly what you are doing." He met Sorey's gaze meaningfully. "You have to have no doubts, no uncertainty, even if you might be wrong in the end. Otherwise, you'll be powerless to stop those instincts."

At his strange words, Sorey frowned.

In the distance, a branch snapped loudly as the wild animal named Gray snapped its jaws closed around it, tearing it roughly from the side of the tree with impressive force.

At the noise, the stranger abruptly shook his head. "Ah, well," he digressed gratefully, "thank you for letting an old man like me ramble. I wish you well on your travels, stranger." With that, the man resumed his walk down the path at a calm pace, sliding his hands into his pockets with a tranquil demeanor.

Off to the side, the wild dog raised his head and gave the Shepherd one last piercing look before turning around and trotting down the path as well. Sorey watched the dog disappear into the trees beyond, a strange expression on his face. Behind him, the babbling of the water continued unerringly in the silence.

---​

"Excuse me, lady?"

Velvet blinked, coming to a halt in the scattered shadow of a guard tower near the edge of the village at the sound of a small girl's voice. She found a child in a tidy pink dress watching her from the yard of a shabby house, her head tilted curiously to the side. In response, she put a hand on her hip, raising an eyebrow at the little girl standing to the side of the main dirt path. "What is it?" she asked.

The girl raised a hand and pointed with her index finger towards the therion's bandaged hand, an intrigued expression on her face. "Could you make your arm go big?" she warbled curiously. "You look like one of those drawings at the market, but your arm is too small."

The therion's eye twitched.

Glancing discreetly at the guard tower behind her, she stepped towards the little girl with a schooled expression on her face. "Drawings at the market, huh?" she asked with interest, coming to a halt on the other side of the fenced yard. "How big does the drawing's arm go?"

The girl seemed disappointed at her reaction, her expression falling. "So you aren't like the drawing at the market?" she asked sadly. "They put those pictures up a few days ago and everybody at school was talking about them." She shook her head abruptly, remembering her manners. "Well, anyway! The drawing's arm went super big, almost as big as the schoolhouse!" she exclaimed excitedly, a shine reappearing in her eyes.

Velvet raised her eyebrows in surprise. "The schoolhouse?" she repeated. She shook her head smoothly in disbelief, dismissing with a wave of her bandaged hand, "No way. Nobody's arm can grow that big."

"Nu-uh!" the girl rebutted fiercely, bouncing up and down in earnest. "The boys at school told us that it was because the lady in the drawing was a 'monster.' Monsters can be all sorts of weird shapes and sizes!" she declared, clearly proud of her superior knowledge to the adult before her.

"Is that so?" Velvet asked dryly, amusement in her expression. She held her index finger to her chin, furrowing her brows in thought. "If they can be all sorts of shapes and sizes... doesn't that mean that monsters can also look like regular people like you and me?"

The little girl stared up at her wide-eyed for a moment in response to her words, seemingly unable to process what she'd just said.

"...Whoa!" she gaped in awe. "You're totally right! I never thought about it that way..."

The therion couldn't help but chuckle at the kid's excitement. "You should tell that to the boys at school," she suggested in amusement, letting her hand drop from her chin as she turned around to leave.

"I will! Thanks, lady!" the girl beamed, raising her hand in farewell.

As Velvet took stepped away, a distant, barely perceptible twanging noise dimly registered in her ears.

The sound unleashed an abrupt wave of adrenaline throughout her body, throwing her every sense into overdrive. The world appeared to slow as she focused her mind, her eyes registering a foreign fast-moving object flying from the rolling fields beyond the border of the village towards her direction at a high speed. She tensed her body in alarm, falling into a combat stance as the object careened through the air, aimed precisely at its target by its sender.

CRASH!

She glanced sharply over her shoulder as the armored man standing atop the guard tower suddenly crashed down onto the dirt in a plume of dust, having toppled over the railing above. A trail of blood trickled out of the now unconscious man's neck from where the small, crossbow-fired sleeper dart had embedded itself.

The horrified gasp of the child beside Velvet was of no concern to her as she faced forward once more, watching as the rest of the sleeper darts arrived at their marks. The remaining two guards overseeing the entrance collapsed without barely a sound of alarm, similarly rendered unconscious by the ranged attacks. Her eyes narrowed as she registered a group of attackers rushing from the crests of the fields towards the entrance to the village where she stood.

"Child! Get inside, now!"

She glanced to the side as the girl she had been talking to turned and scrambled towards the entryway of her house from which her mother was panickily beckoning her. The sound of boots slamming on dirt returned her attention to the invaders as they charged into the village proper, their drawn swords and daggers gleaming in the light of the setting sun.

Without a word, Velvet proceeded to meet the first man's sword with her own in front of the girl's yard, metal screeching against metal as she deflected his weapon with a subtle twist of her arm. She pivoted immediately on her foot to bring her other leg around, slamming into the bandit's unprotected side with inhuman strength sending him reeling away with a hoarse cry. Her raven hair sweeping around with her, she spun completely around and chopped her sword into the air, intercepting the fired crossbow dart with pinpoint accuracy.

PING!

An ear-piercing clang resounded into the air as the dart spiraled off to the side before embedding into the dirt with a soft thunk.

Her steel boot crackled noisily underneath her as she followed through, spinning around and launching herself into a backflip to clear the swung axes and swords of two more men. The world spun around her as she twirled around, slamming her left foot into the dirt behind her and launching herself forward in a cartwheel.

Her target let out an involuntary cry as the hidden blade of her right boot sliced him, causing him to reflexively drop his axe. Before he could react further, she lashed out and crashed her steel boot into his head, sending him sprawling into the dirt. Her other opponent lunged at her, stabbing forward with his sword at her heart, only to stumble as she deflected his blade with her own. She twisted around and swept his feet out from under him, sending him crashing onto the ground as well with a clattering of metal armor.

Before she could knock him unconscious, she was forced to leap away to avoid another crossbow dart singing through the air where she had been standing. She recovered with her boots sliding noisily in dirt, her eyes narrowed as she laid her eyes upon the rest of her opponents, her controlled breathing low and steady in the heat of battle. Across from her at the entrance to the village, the rest of the invaders exchanged glances in the face of her unyielding resistance, gripping their weapons with restless, white-knuckle fists.

Suddenly, a woman with dark hair abruptly stepped forward with a sword in hand, hailing her directly. "You aren't from around here," she stated aloud, her voice deafeningly loud in the still atmosphere.

Velvet narrowed her eyes in response, noting how the rest of the attackers appeared to be following the woman's lead. "...Your point?" she replied curtly.

The other woman's expression was hard. "Lower your blade," she advised heavily, holding the therion's gaze. "We're taking over the village. For our survival."

The dots connected instantly in Velvet's mind. "You're refugees from Rolance," she concluded aloud, echoing Alisha's words from earlier.

"So you know," the attacker observed, taking a cautious step forward while still holding her sword readily at her side. "Then you must also know that we are doing that which must be done to save our lives." She gestured her hand harshly towards the unconscious guards lying on the side of the dirt street. "These bastards spat in our faces in our time of need – they threatened to behead us for even dare asking them for help!"

She held Velvet's gaze imploringly, desperation seeping plainly into her voice as she said, "We have starving families who will be murdered in the chaos in our homeland. You must know that our only chance at life is to take this village hostage and negotiate with Hyland!" She took another step forward, shaking her head in emotion. "Please, lower your blade!" she beseeched once more.

A tense silence fell in the wake of her words. Velvet's expression was unreadable as she held the woman's imploring gaze. She absently registered movement out of the corner of her eye as the girl and her mother peeked out of the window of their house, watching with wide, horrified eyes as she faced off against the band of refugees.

"...If you take over, you'll draw the complete military attention of the nation of Hyland upon this village."

Her boot crackled loudly on the dirt as she returned to a full fighting stance, her words hard and resolute. "I won't accept such a risk to my plans." Her amber eyes were cold and unyielding. "Not now."

The refugee leader's gaze darkened in response to her words. By her side, her grip tightened on her sword. "...So be it," she muttered lowly. "We'll just have to take it by force!"

With that, she lunged forward, stabbing her sword towards Velvet's neck.

CLANG!

Sparks flew briefly in the air as their blades met in the center of the dirt street. Still holding her sword in a lock, Velvet pivoted and lashed out with her foot towards her opponent, only to find air as the leader ducked lithely underneath her leg in the blink of an eye.

Capitalizing on the opening, the woman drew her sword back and shoved it forward at the therion's exposed side while she was still off-balance. Her sword was deflected by an extending hidden blade as Velvet tilted backwards in a backflip, reaching up to push off the dirt above her in midair to maintain her velocity in a second twirl.

She recovered just in time to sidestep a follow-up slash of the leader, retaliating by lashing her leg around in an attempt to sweep the woman off her feet. Dirt crackled loudly underneath the leader's boots as she leapt upwards with a defiant cry, avoiding the therion's leg while bringing her sword down in a decisive stab towards her heart.

SQUELCH!

With a fierce roar, Velvet tore around and slammed her extended daemon arm into the woman, intercepting her in midair and tossing her bodily backwards into the street as if she were made of paper. Her sword clattered nosily in the dirt beside her head as she tumbled to a halt in the street, groaning involuntarily as the world spun around her.

Silence fell as the leader laid there beaten, breathing laboriously with her black hair spread in the dirt all around her. Velvet stood at the ready in the middle of the street amidst the lull, her pulsing daemon arm unseen by the rest of the humans present. The rest of the refugees, having regrouped and consolidated in the wake of their initial battle with the therion, looked on with grim, defeated expressions.

"INTRUDERS!"

Alarmed calls and the slamming of armored boots resounded in the air as the village guard, having finally detected the presence of the refugees, charged towards the scene, their weapons drawn at the ready to fend off the attackers. Velvet didn't spare a glance over her shoulder as they approached, instead watching as the refugee leader stumbled to her feet, glaring at her with untold hatred in her tear-ridden eyes.

"...You've sentenced us all to death."

The black-haired woman's words were uttered through gritted teeth as she stood, clutching at her dislocated right arm. "Without us, my children... our families will starve or be slain within a fortnight." She winced in agony, stumbling backwards as one of the men laid an urgent hand on her other shoulder. "This was something we had to do! We had no other choice...!"

Hatred burned in her eyes as she glared at Velvet with untold emotion. "Curse you," she snarled, spittle flying from her mouth. "Curse you, damnit!"

Velvet looked on in the face of the woman's ire, an impassive expression on her face.

Behind her, the village guards arrived in mass amidst a mad clamor of clanging metal and grinding dirt. "It's those Rolance rats!" one man hollered viciously, beckoning his comrades forward as he ran past Velvet. "Don't let them go this time – slaughter every last one of them!" Battle cries echoed sympathetically into the cold autumn air as the men charged towards the group of invaders, bloodlust clear in their gazes. Arrows whistled above the clamor as the first projectiles were shot overhead.

The leader of the refugees remained fixated hatefully on Velvet's eyes for a moment longer before she followed the remainder of her group's lead, breaking into a mad retreat away from the Hyland guards. The sounds of clattering boots and the twinging of arrows being set loose slowly grew progressively distant as the group of Rolance citizens and their pursuers ran further and further away from the village.

A deceptive tranquility returned to the dirt street where Velvet stood, her daemon arm pulsing gently by her side in the brilliant light of the setting sun. Her steel boots crunched quietly underfoot as she turned wordlessly around, facing the group who had arrived behind her moments ago.

Uncertainty was abundantly clear on Sorey's expression, while Alisha had a hand to her mouth in abject horror. Mikleo eyed her as if she were some sort of caged beast. Velvet's expression didn't change in the slightest as her eyes slid away from them, past the rooves of the nearby buildings to gauge the progress of the setting sun.

"You all should hurry up and rest. We have more travelling to do tomorrow." Her words were calm as she walked past them, her dirtied raven hair sweeping behind her in the cool evening breeze.

Sorey watched her back recede as she walked away by herself, a concern frown forming in the wake of her departure. After a moment, he glanced over his shoulders at the others, absently noting that the sounds of distant battle had since faded into nothingness beyond the outskirts of the village. He refused to think about the implications of that observation.

"...Come on guys," he urged quietly, meeting their troubled eyes. "Let's go."

High up above, the skies grew darker still as the last rays of sunlight faded from view, the rich golden hues of the heavens slowly giving way to the dark blue shades of night.

---​

Author's Note: Hey folks, apologies for the delays between chapters! Hope everyone's doing alright.

Merry Christmas, all

- CloudFry, December 25th​, 2020

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 26 – Insomnia.

For the first time since her return, the crisp sea breeze wafted against Velvet's face, bringing with it an inexplicable surge of familiarity. Her lips tightened at the emotions that nipped at the heels of the unbidden memories, threatening to distract her from the task at hand. With an almost imperceptible jerk of her head, she forced herself to ignore the winds breaking against her jacket and to focus on her surroundings.

A disfigured, weather-worn marble statue wielding in one hand what had presumably once been a brilliant longsword stood alone in the center of the crumbling stone plaza. Ancient buildings twisted beyond recognition by constant winds and sea spray stood in a semicircle around the plaza, facing the statue and the flat horizon of the open ocean beyond. Scattered groups of townsfolk dressed in shabby clothing went about their business before the partially boarded-up façades, some casting glances at the conspicuous group where they stood. The bright afternoon sun beamed calmly directly overhead, washing the seaside city of Meliodas in a steady light.

Rose glanced to the side, tracking a pair of shady-looking individuals walking about the plaza and noting how other people appeared to be giving them a wide berth as if they were predators strolling amongst the herd. "Well... while it doesn't seem like an especially welcoming place," she noted, raising a hand to scratch her head, "I don't really see anything out of the ordinary."

The trails of fabric hanging from Dezel's coat danced in the breeze making landfall as he tilted his head upwards. "There's no storm like last time. Not even a cloud in the sky," he stated, feeling the winds with quiet concentration.

Alisha swept her gaze across the ragged stone plaza and the many buildings married to the network of sloping streets beyond, noting, "Though I have never once visited in person, going by what I know of this city, all appears to be as expected."

Sorey glanced around as well, his expression tinged with a hint of dismay as he confirmed his companions' words. "Yeah... it does seem like there isn't anything odd here," he agreed dimly, his embroidered cloak briefly wafting upwards in the breeze behind him. Doubt creeping in, he shook his head and turned to the group with a candid expression. "All this might've been a dead end after all," he admitted.

Lailah's expression was gentle as she interlaced her hands together. "Let us not concede defeat so soon," she advised, drawing Sorey's rather disappointed gaze, "we did come all this way, after all."

"That's right." Mikleo crossed his arms and gestured reasonably in the air. "Even if there isn't an iris gem here, we still might be able to unearth something about Heldalf and his past. We should look for clues in the city."

Despite the growing evidence that her initial reservations were in truth valid, Velvet held a detached expression on her face. "Fine," she said aloud, drawing the attention of the group. "We can split up and investigate the city. We'll regroup later." Those short words having been said, she turned around, putting her back to the rest of them, and set off into the depths of the city by herself. A trailing wisp of the sea breeze chased after her as she left, toying with her jacket and hair.

Sorey watched her leave, concern clear on his face.

The therion had been noticeably more silent than usual. In the short time in which he'd come to know the strange former Lord of Calamity, he'd grown keenly cognizant of her tendency to stifle her own feelings, contently acting in the roles the world had seen fit to label her without a care of the person who she was. Right now, heedless of her hard exterior, he could tell that she had been affected by her encounter with the group of refugees.

Yet he could see no way he could help; no way to correct her self-destructive actions and thoughts as they occurred before his eyes, despite all that had transpired between the two. It was enough to drive him up a wall.

"Investigate the city for clues, huh?" Mikleo's words jerked Sorey's attention back to the group as they turned inwards in discussion. "That's easier said than done," he muttered, shaking his head. "The city covers a great deal of land and over half of the buildings are unoccupied. My knowledge of it is very limited – I don't even know who that statue is supposed to be." He gestured with his head towards the disfigured, featureless statue of the warrior standing in the center of the plaza.

Alisha's eyes travelled the length of the statue before arriving at the base, noting the worn plaque long since made illegible by the sea winds and spray. "It's likely that nobody does anymore. As I understand it, many such things in this city are just like that." She glanced around, surveying the hardened-looking citizens walking about the disparate plaza. "...I would suggest that we travel in pairs," she said, lowering her voice cautiously. "There is a reason for why this place is in such a state, after all."

Edna tilted her head to the side, her amber hair waving in the breeze. "Sure. We have to make sure you three don't get mugged blind, after all. Especially Sorey," she added matter-of-factly, settling the tip of her closed umbrella on the stones with an audible tap.

"I feel like I should be defending myself here," Sorey remarked with a subtle grin. With that, he reached over his shoulder to procure his copy of the Celestial Record. The weathered pages crackled as he flipped to the entry of Meliodas, displaying a rough map of the city to the others. "...Here," he provided. "If we split up like so, we can cover a good chunk of ground at once."

"Fine by me," Rose bobbed her head in acceptance of the plan. "Then let's going – we're burning daylight here!" She glanced over her shoulder at the silent wind seraph behind her. "You coming?"

Dezel crossed his arms in response. "Sure."

As the two left, Alisha blinked as Edna walked past her, only to stop and glance at her expectantly. "...Well?" the seraph asked rather impatiently.

The princess blinked a few more times at her before snapping to. "Oh! Yes, let us go, Edna," she agreed, joining the earth seraph as they departed in the opposite direction to Rose and Dezel.

In their wake, Mikleo gave Sorey a nod, wordlessly indicating his companionship. That left Lailah by herself, who shook her head gently in response to the Shepherd's questioning look. As they left to explore their own section of the city, she turned to face the rest of the plaza with a distant look forming in her eyes.

Her heels clicked rhythmically on the cracked and malformed cobblestones as she traversed the streets of Meliodas, absently staying out of the paths of the few humans walking the deserted passages. The designs of the surrounding buildings seemed to gape down at her with naked windows as eyes, accented with sharp, fragmented designs lining their dilapidated walls. Every turn seemed to elicit more of the strange feelings simmering in the murkiness of her mind, increasing the growing sensation in her chest.

She came to a halt in a shadowed alleyway and held a hand up to her head, gritting her teeth and closing her eyes. Yet try as she might, she was simply unable to pinpoint why she was feeling like so. The sensations were like fish in a rushing river that she grasped at in complete futility – infuriatingly close to something tangible. A frustrated huff escaped her lips as she snapped her eyes open and twisted around, blindingly rounding the corner and walking onward as if to escape the creeping feelings encroaching upon her mind.

A pair of hands suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders, forcibly jolting her from her stupor. Centuries of developed instincts directed her actions as she brought her hand up, mana flowing instantly at her command to form a fireball before her.

"Lailah!"

Velvet's voice cut through the air with sharp clarity, causing the flames in her palm to go out immediately. She blinked rapidly, the world fading back into clarity before her eyes.

The therion held her hands on her shoulders, holding her steady before the ankle-high planter that she had been about to trip over. The two of them stood in what appeared to be an overgrown courtyard in the center of an abandoned building complex, the sun shining high in the sky above the skeletons of dead trees leaning overhead. A pair of roosting pigeons, startled by the loud noise, took flight from one of the many darkened windows looking out into the courtyard.

Lailah caught her breath as the sound of the fluttering pigeons faded, meeting the therion's inquisitive expression with an embarrassed yet grateful look. "Thank you, Velvet," she mumbled self-consciously, steadying herself with her help. "It would seem that my mind wandered off."

Velvet examined her with careful eyes as she let go of her shoulders. "...Is something the matter?" she asked as she took a step back, returning the seraph's space. There was a surprising degree of care in her gaze that gave Lailah all the more reason to wave her hands in the air.

"I-I was merely being a little silly, that's all," she promised with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "It's no cause for concern." When the therion continued to watch her, unconvinced by her words, she moved to swiftly change the subject.

Her heels sank into the overgrown grass as she turned around, pivoting her head to observe the surrounding courtyard. "This is such a strange place," she remarked aloud, her eyes following the curtains of vines trailing in parallel down from the upper levels of the surrounding buildings. "The styles of these buildings truly are of a different age to those of this era. Even the sanctuary in which I resided for so long bears no resemblance to these places."

Despite the painfully transparent attempt to change the subject, Velvet chose to let it go. "That's right," she replied, crossing her arms. "I was watching when Sorey drew that sword and formed the pact with you in Ladylake." She tilted her head slightly to the side, curiosity in her gaze. "How long were you in that sword for?"

"Oh, my!" Lailah gasped suddenly, bending over and staring intently at an object atop the encasing bricks of one of the courtyard planters. "Look, Velvet! This rock..." she urged enthusiastically, staring at the rock with a near manic fixation. "Do you see how round it is? How perfectly smooth it is...?"

Velvet's expression had fallen into a deadpan. She didn't bother replying.

Stars sparkled in the fire seraph's eyes as she shot upright with the stone in question in her hands, chirping, "It's a masterpiece! Why, it could even be a symbol of the great Arma Dylan's perfection. Utterly a-stone-ishing!" Her charmed punchline echoed off the surrounding walls of the abandoned building, irritating the ears of her unimpressed audience.

In the silence that had fallen in the wake of her pun, Velvet's eyes abruptly transitioned from irritated to predatory, an unsettling smile forming on her lips. Her carved stage expression straining her face muscles, Lailah swallowed nervously at the intimidating sight. "Oh really?" The therion's words were casual yet somehow also dripped liberally with malicious intent. "Remind me Lailah, how did you end up meeting Maotelus?" she asked offhandedly.

Like clockwork, the seraph spun to the side in a full revolution, madly affixing her gaze to the brilliant stone in her hands. "With such smoothness, I might be able to compete in the normin centennial marble race!" she breathed. "I could place in the top tier – orb even better!"

Without giving her a chance to take a breath, Velvet gave her a curious glance. "I suppose it's worth asking again," she added, shifting on her feet. "Why did he entrust the silver flame to you?"

"In truth, this rock is truly too valuable of a find to be wasted on something as menial as a marble race," Lailah refuted urgently, shaking her head. "...No, I've decided," she proclaimed, "I shall use this masterpiece in a different roll."

"He must've trusted you a great deal to have given you his powers," Velvet pondered absently, holding a finger to her lips in thought, "...or he was just desperate. One way or another, things ended up with him being corrupted and under Heldalf's control." Her eyes narrowed in on the seraph, her brow furrowing. "Just what happened, Lailah?"

Panic seeped in the other woman's eyes as she floundered for a brief moment before regaining her bearings. "T-that's it!" she declared, raising a decisive finger in the air. "I shall provide it to the seraphic geologist's association! Thus, we as a society can benefit from a more well-rounded understanding of such things..."

Silence formed in the wake of her words, cold and unyielding in the midst of the motionless, forgotten courtyard. Lailah dropped her gaze and flinched sheepishly at Velvet's expression of dry amusement. "T-that was the best I could do with what I had!" she declared defensively, holding her so-precious rock closely to her chest as heat rose to color her cheeks.

Velvet let out an amused chuckle as she laid a hand on her hip, giving her a forgiving look. "It's alright, Lailah. I understand," she replied, well aware of how the seraph felt about the restrictions of her oath when it came to the group's objectives. A stray memory bubbled to the back of her mind, causing her to add as an afterthought, "...If anything, I'm accustomed to the jokes. My older sister used to crack stupid ones like that all the time."

Curiosity formed on Lailah's expression at the foreign piece of information of the ambiguous hellion. She tilted her head, striving to be delicate as she carefully asked, "Your older sister?"

Overgrown grass crunched gratuitously under Velvet's boots as she turned to the side, striding past the planters towards the center of the hallowed courtyard where the largest of the dead trees stood. Despite how entirely irrelevant the information was to the situation and the task at hand, she found the words escaping her lips easily. "Yeah. Celica always knew what to say to lighten up any situation. If any of us were fighting, she'd try and distract us by making some horrible, horrible joke," she recalled aloud, gazing up at the limbs of the naked trees. She shook her head in amusement at the warm, fuzzy and indistinct memories bubbling to the surface in kind. "It ended up working more often than not."

The therion's tone was so starkly different as she spoke – a soft and tender description that contrasted starkly with what the acts Lailah knew she had done and moreover were capable of. It was a side of her that rarely surfaced. Lailah strove to keep it aloft for longer. "She sounds like a wonderful person," she remarked kindly, entwining her hands before her dress. "Was she perhaps the one who taught you to cook so well?"

The memories of lessons came unbidden to Velvet's mind, appearing clairvoyantly despite all the time that had passed. The laughter of her sister that had echoed around the warm house awash with sunlight at her innocent, childish questions. A smile spread on her face as she nodded. "She taught me everything our mom knew about cooking, and much, much more," she explained tenderly. "Like... how to make the most of my money when grocery shopping. The stuff rice water can be used for. Cleaning my plate properly. How to use sugar to help a bump on the head." Her gaze drifted down the length of the dead tree before her, her expression fading into melancholy in the silence of the deserted courtyard. "...What it means to be alive," she added quietly.

The warmth of the past seemed to dissipate like the embers of a dying flame as the darker memories encroached upon her mind, reawakened by her unusual reverie.

Lailah tilted her head slightly at the somber words, recognizing the significance of those words to the therion, even if they held little to herself. It was clear that the hardened woman that was her companion had been through a great, great deal. The times which she would simply gaze into nothingness spoke volumes to that effect. This time however, she felt the strong desire to intervene between her and the ill thoughts she harbored.

"He mentioned something about that, if I recall things properly," she remarked aloud, treading carefully with her strategically emphasized words. "I do not believe that it made too much sense to me at the time, however." Velvet blinked as she registered the unspoken meaning behind the words. She turned to the side to face the seraph with a curious expression as she elaborated, "We did not exchange a great deal of words. Yet, the one time that He did refer to you directly during one of our conversations, I recall Him saying something that seemed particularly strange."

A soft, understanding smile spread on her face as she met Velvet's eyes. "I believe he said you were 'a nag,'" she recalled, amusement clear on her face. She shook her head, adding, "Naturally, I hadn't the faintest notion of how that description could apply to a prior Lord of Calamity at the time. He provided no more insight into the matter to me however, so I thought nothing more of it." She tilted her head to the side coyly. "From what I gather from the lessons of your older sister as well as how you berate our poor Shepherd and his own habits, I believe I understand it better now."

Despite herself, Velvet exhaled in an incredulous huff and glanced to the side, putting both hands on her hips. "...That little brat," she muttered, her words warm. Heedless of the thoughts that had been swirling around in her mind, she found resounding clarity in the vision of the malak that she had given a name. No matter what, she remembered, she would do everything she needed to do to save him. Everything.

By her side, her bandaged hand curled.

Lailah's heels fell on crushed grass as she stepped up to Velvet, her long hair swaying behind her back. "We should return to the search," she proposed gently, an encouraging smile on her face. Velvet hesitated for a brief moment, her brow furrowing as she noticed something seeming... off about the seraph's face. Yet she quickly dismissed the thought and nodded in affirmation, choosing to focus on the task at hand. Together, the seraph and the hellion turned around and headed for the exit, leaving the dead trees of the overgrown courtyard standing in solitude once more.

---​

The muffled chatter of patrons on the patio of the first-floor bar drifted aimlessly through the glass windows, meshing with the crackling of the hearth to create a mellow atmosphere within the warmly lit room. The members of the Shepherd's group sat assembled near the heat of the fire in the inn room they had reserved, settling down after a long day of travel and investigation. Outside, the silhouette of the waning moon hovered just over the buildings on the other side of the street amidst a cold, cloudy night.

Sorey let out a disappointed sigh as he leaned back in his cross-legged position on the floor. "...Nothing at all, huh?" he asked. In response, the group shook their heads.

"Basically," Rose agreed, stepping up and plopping down beside the heat of the flames with a rather tired sigh. "Nobody that we bothered knew a thing about Heldalf." She shrugged idly, adding, "The gang of street rats who tried to swipe my things didn't seem have much to say about him either."

Sitting atop her bed near the hearth, Alisha shook her head again. "Edna and I similar fortunes," she explained sadly, holding her arm close to her chest. "We failed to discover anything that might've indicated the presence of a corrupted iris gem the likes of which we saw in Lastonbell."

Edna's boots sank into the rug as she walked over to the group, a steaming bowl full of soup in her hands. "All the humans were talking about was the coup in Rolance and how sluggish they felt," she added disinterestedly, sitting down on the floor while exhaling to help cool down her supper. "Nothing about freak storms or monsters."

"It was the same for the two of us," Mikleo said, shaking his head. "We even managed to find the exact places that were shown in the memory and looked in the surroundings for clues. But we found nothing." He frowned, leaning forward in the chair upon which he sat. "The city's just too big and too empty. Looking for clues about a single man is like looking for a needle in a haystack," he stated.

"...Be that as it may, we can't stay here forever," Sorey concluded, sitting forward in his seat with a contemplative expression. He shook his head, making a point to meet the gazes of everyone present. "We'll probably have to write this one off, guys. I'm sorry for wasting everybody's time," he said. At his side, the fire burned brightly in the hearth, bathing his curled figure in a stark light.

Rose tilted her head to the side understandingly, waving a reassuring hand. "Hey, no need for the long face. It was worth a shot in the first place – it's better that now we know for sure."

"Hmph." Dezel crossed his arms as he leant back on the wall beside the hearth. "If you say so," he muttered, doubt clear in his words.

The crackling of the fire and the din of the downstairs conversations filled the silence that followed. Edna sipped carefully from the hot bowl of soup where she sat. Alisha turned to her bedside, searching around through her travel pack for something in particular. With his crossed hands supporting his chin, Sorey stared into the flames with a slight frown on his face. "...I was so sure that the city was a clue in the memory," he mumbled contemplatively, furrowing his brow.

The crackling of the fire continued unerringly in the silence.

Slowly, the hairs on the back of Sorey's neck rose as he began to feel that there was something amiss. His gaze rose with increasing focus and alertness, meeting the confused gazes of the rest of the group in kind as they seemed to arrive at the same conclusion as well. They glanced around with wordless caution, all of a sudden on edge despite how normal everything seemed to be. In the background, the hearth continued to burn, merrily and noisily.

"...Sorey."

The group turned to where Velvet sat curled up against one of the windowsills, gazing down into the streets below. She turned her head to face them in the silence, a deeply serious expression on her face. "They're asleep," she said.

It was then that Sorey realized just had seemed off. The rumbling sound of conversation downstairs had abruptly halted, extinguished like the flame of a candle, leaving naught but a deathly, haunting silence behind. His boots sank into the rug underfoot as he got to his feet, walking up to Velvet's side to look down through the window into the still night beyond.

Bodies littered the patio of the bar downstairs, slumped over tables in pools of spilled drinks and collapsed bodily upon the wooden planks underfoot. The few passerby in the street too appeared to have fallen forward midstride, their limbs splayed around them on the cold and jagged cobblestones. Only the subtle rising and falling of their chests indicated that the people raggedly strewn about in the night below were still alive, all collectively asleep under the spell of an unnatural slumber.

Sorey and Velvet exchanged a serious glance. Nothing more had to be said.

The cold night air kissed their cheeks as they ventured out of the entrance to the inn into the abnormally still night air. Above, the partially filled moon radiated a soft, diffused blue light behind the rooves of the opposite buildings, shading the street with ominously long shadows that sought to overtake the glimmering lanterns and torches still burning brightly where they hung.

A stray breeze blew down the length of the rows of ancient buildings, eliciting a shiver to run down Sorey's spine as he hesitantly nudged the shoulder of a man who had collapsed on the street in front of the inn. The man shuddered at the contact, his face scrunching up as if in fear, yet remained in a deep slumber regardless. The Shepherd stood with narrowed eyebrows; his suspicions confirmed.

"I sense a great source of malevolence emanating from deeper in the city," Lailah stated softly, her heels clicking in the stones as she stepped forward. She swept her gaze around at the humans lying inanimate before them, her long hair waved in the cold night breeze. "Sorey's hypothesis may be proven correct yet," she noted.

"Yes," Alisha nodded seriously, readily feeling the battle lance strapped onto her back. "Let us not tarry in doing so." With her words, the group set off into the night towards the center of the ghost city, littered by the unconscious bodies of its absent citizens.

The waning moon hanging low in the cloudy skies was their only companion as they traversed the deserted intersections and lonely alleyways, their every sense on edge. In the haunting stillness, the long shadows seemed to take on lives of their own, grasping out with jagged limbs having already doomed so many lives to slumber. Their footfalls upon the stones were deafening – their every step a great disturbance in an otherwise all-consuming silence in a frozen place.

Mikleo crossed his arms and glanced at Edna. "I guess now we know why everyone was feeling sluggish," he supposed quietly. He put a hand to his chin, glancing to the side as the group passed a couple who had fallen in the street beside one another. "I can't imagine that the health of the citizens has been improving if this sort of thing has been happening every night," he remarked. "This isn't normal."

"...Now that you mention it," Rose considered as she glanced to the side, alertly scanning the gaping windows and doorways of the abandoned ancient buildings as they passed, "Dezel and I did hear a group of people talking about weird accidents happening in the city. Stuff like people supposedly just dropping dead in the streets."

"Oh no," Lailah breathed. "Could such things be happening because of this?"

"Sounds like it's possible. All the more reason to find the source and put an end to this," Sorey concluded grimly, stepping forward with renewed purpose in his stride. "C'mon, guys," he urged.

The feeling of the malevolence only grew stronger the deeper they traversed into the dead city, permeating through the air in steady, pulsating waves. They followed the sensation, navigating through the streets between increasingly taller buildings illuminated by rare streetlights and strewn with more and more unconscious people. It was merely a matter of time before they located the true source in the plaza from which they had first begun their search earlier in the day.

The one-armed, disfigured statue stood tall in the circular plaza just as it had in the day, raising its longsword defiantly into the air before the vast expanse of the moonlit ocean. Groups of people were scattered about the open space, all in various states of disarray lying where they had fallen amidst the freezing sea breeze washing across the cobblestones with impunity. The group stepped guardedly into the silent scene, their weapons drawn and held at the ready as they directed their gazes towards the source of it all. Sorey blinked at the sight that awaited him.

The owl blinked back, its eyes shining past the putrid waves of malevolence oozing out of its body. The abnormally large avian had alighted upon the stones under the shadow of the one-armed statue, its brilliant golden feathers ruffling slightly in the ebbing and flowing winds of the ocean behind it. In the light of the waning moon, the animal seemed content to simply watch as the group approached it, a strange curiosity in its corrupted eyes.

Sorey slowly straightened, loosening his wary grip upon the pommel of his sword in the presence of the strange, docile hellion. He glanced back at the rest of the group, pointing towards the gleaming purple orb embedded in the corrupted animal's chest. Velvet returned his gaze, nodding wordlessly.

Together, the two of them stepped forward, the rest of the group standing warily at the ready behind them. The owl hellion did nothing more but tilt its head slightly as the human and therion neared it. Another cool sea breeze blew from the vast expanse of the night ocean beyond, catching and wafting both Velvet's hair and Sorey's cloak as they came to a halt before it.

Sorey exchanged a glance with his companion before he swiftly brought his left hand up, the Shepherd's emblem gleaming in the moonlight. Their world burst into a conflagration of silver flames, followed by an all-encompassing wave of darkness.

---​

Thick tendrils of ungodly malevolence gripped and clawed at him from all directions, completely enveloping his form in an oppressive, overwhelming blanket of miasma. He gritted his teeth as he regained his awareness, striving hard to ignore the horrid sensation as the awful memories of his last time in such a place forced shivers of phantom agony down his spine. It was all around him and everywhere – it was as if he were drowning far, far beneath the surface of the ocean, his life slowly being squeezed out of his lungs as the unimaginable expanse of malevolence engulfed him.

Velvet's claw extruded outward with an audible squelch, emerging from her sheathe of bandages to gorge upon the feast of malevolence. The unsettling gulping of the monstrous arm reverberating in the air, Sorey exhaled a shaky breath of relief as the pressure eased from his body. After a moment, he gathered his wits and cracked his eyes open, allowing the murky, tainted light to flood his vision.

The city of Pendrago sprawled out before him, a sea of shingled rooves of buildings linked by a complex web of narrow cobblestone streets that spilled out into the vast, hazy expanse of the Pearloats Pasture beyond, barely contained by the tall and unyielding stone walls wrapping around its borders. The sun hung overhead in the hazy sky, its dim light meekly penetrating the plumes of malevolence hovering ominously above the city to illuminate the paths of the many citizens traversing the bustling metropolis.

His racing heart slowly calming in his chest, Sorey took another deep breath, turning his gaze from his surroundings towards the clawed therion standing by his side. "...Thanks," he exhaled gratefully, eyeing the vast amounts of malevolence actively being absorbed by the therion's claw with each passing moment.

She gave him a meaningful look in return, gesturing with her head to the side. "Come on," she urged simply, turning to face the busy city street behind them. Her meaning was clear – they had little time. He replied with a nod, steeling himself to complete the task at hand. Together, the two stepped down from the raised dais overlooking the city to descend into the ebbing and flowing crowds of people below.

It did not take them very long at all to register the commotion. Cheers and cries of joy echoed off the walls of the surrounding buildings, drawing their attention to a procession of armored bannermen parting the crowd at the end of the street. Their silver armor glinted brightly even amidst the hazy sunlight as they marched, proudly decorated with the familiar rich red and gold colors of the Platinum Knights.

Through the vast crowds separating them and the procession, Sorey caught a brief glimpse of a lone figure walking in the center of the royal escort – a man garbed in a deep black and gold attire striding forward with power and confidence in his every move. The question of his identity was rendered non-existent by the roaring chants of the crowd.

"HELDALF! HELDALF! HELDALF!"

The two eventually managed to push through the cheering people enough to gain a better view, just in time to watch the revered general, using the path cleared by his guard, disappear within the shadowed entryway of a rather small building at the end of the street. The wooden door shut firmly behind him with an audible thunk, blocked bodily by the dozens of Platinum Knights guarding their charge. The crowd's cries grew to a climax at the man's departure, filled with joyful whooping, cheering, and whistling.

Amidst the clamor of the surrounding people, Sorey crossed his arms and glanced sidewise at Velvet with a thoughtful expression on his face. "You said Heldalf was the general of the Rolance army, right?" he asked, sweeping his gaze at the enthusiastic gazes of the cheering people around him. "...I'm guessing this must be during the height of his time," he deduced absently. "The people here sure love him."

At his side, Velvet's eyes carefully scrutinized the guarded doorway where the general had disappeared through. Amidst the crowd and the dozens of well-trained knights, the odds of forcing their way through unscathed appeared to be slim. "We'll have to break in somehow," she concluded, narrowing her eyes. "He has to be the subject of the memory."

Following her gaze, Sorey frowned, also considering the predicament at hand. After a moment, he blinked as he noticed the empty alleyway resting alongside an adjacent building. He nudged Velvet. "I have an idea," he confided, gesturing towards the alleyway. "It's about something that Rose and the other Scattered Bones members taught me."

Inside, the joyful calls of the crowd grew muffled by the walls of polished oak wood, allowing the sound of Heldalf's boots landing upon the creaking planks to resound in the silence as he turned the corner of the hallway. His royal coat sweeping behind him, the general stepped through the entryway and down the steps into the main body of the tavern that was completely deserted save for a lone man seated at a table in the center of the room. A man with dirty blonde hair in a dark blue jacket wearing a single black fingerless glove on his left hand.

The seated man glanced up from the opened book lying on the table at the sound of Heldalf's footsteps, a steeled, expectant expression on his face as he watched him approach. The general's steps fell rhythmically on the wood as he strode past the vacant tables and chairs towards him, holding the man's gaze with his own. His steps came to an abrupt halt as he stopped before the table, glancing down at the book lying open on the table. His expression was carved from stone.

"...Do you ever ponder how the two of us ended up as such?" Heldalf's voice thrummed with a slightly dulled yet nonetheless authoritative edge that resounded in the confined space of the empty tavern.

In response to his words, the other man tilted his head slightly to the side, a distant expression on his face. "Not a day passes in which I do not," he replied, idly playing with the writing quill in his bare right hand. "I do believe you to be the most impressive out of the two of us, however," he added smoothly. "From lowly gutter rat to General of the Rolance Army. Truly an astonishing tale."

Heldalf gave the seated man an assertive look, gesturing meaningfully at the partially inscribed book on the table. "One that you have been refraining from telling, I trust," he added pointedly. "Adoption by a royal family is hardly a worthwhile story to tell in a tome relating to the history of the world."

"So you always say," the other man replied drearily, waving his gloved hand in the air. "Never mind how that story started with you stealing the purse of a noble." He chuckled dryly at the familiar recollection. In response to the general's wordless glare, he splayed his hand open in surrender, reassuring, "Do not fret, Heldalf. I have mentioned your existence in my writing equally as many times as I have mentioned my own." His hand fell to the table as he glanced down at the partially finished page in front of him. "That is to say, none."

Heldalf grunted in satisfaction, returning his gaze to the familiar man before him. "...It is good to see you again, old friend," he uttered after a pause, extending a hand in offering.

The other reciprocated without hesitation, standing from his seat to clasp the general's hand and bring him into an embrace, a smile clear on his face. "Likewise," he promised.

It was at that moment that footsteps echoed in the hallway behind them, drawing their attention to someone else stepping into the quiet tavern. The two separated from their embrace, Heldalf turning towards the newcomer with a calm expression on his face. "Brother," the general greeted, gesturing with his head towards the man standing beside him. "This is the man of whom I spoke. Consider yourself fortunate – he is a particularly difficult person to find."

His brother gave the stranger a friendly smile as he approached. "I will indeed," he answered Heldalf's words happily as he came to a halt. "I've heard the rumors, of course, but I'd never thought I'd actually see a man like you in person." He bent over in a deeply respectful bow, before reaching out and offering his left hand in greeting. "The name is Eric Heldalf, sir," he stated warmly. "Words cannot express how truly honored I am to meet a Shepherd of legend such as yourself – I thank you greatly for coming here on my behalf."

The other man in the dark blue jacket had a kind smile on his face as he grasped Eric Heldalf's hand with his gloved left hand wearing emblazoned with the sigil of the Shepherd.

"Michael," he replied, shaking the man's hand with a tight grip. "Worry not – a brother of Heldalf's is a brother of mine," he reassured firmly. "I would be glad to assist you with your dilemma."

On the other side of the tavern, standing behind the entryway to the bar of the tavern, Sorey's expression had fallen into one of complete befuddlement.

"Shepherd... Michael?" he mumbled under his breath; confusion clear in his expression. He exchanged a look with Velvet standing across the doorway to him. "But the Celestial Record didn't mention anything about a Shepherd in the past 200 years – could it have been mistaken...?" he asked helplessly.

Velvet glanced at him, a focused expression on her face as she absorbed the implications of it all. There were too many to consider at that moment. She shook her head sharply, dismissing the thoughts from her head and instead focusing on the task at hand. "Whatever the case, we're almost out of time," she whispered, drawing Sorey's attention away from his raging thoughts and to the pulsing arm dangling off her frame at her side. "We need to move, now."

After a brief moment of hesitation, he nodded his head, choosing to file the revelation away for later analysis. "...Okay," he agreed quietly, steeling himself. "Then let's go."

With coordinated movements, the two lunged through the entryway and into the tavern, clearing the height of the bar in a single leap and falling upon their alarmed targets before they could react properly. Velvet slashed her demonic arm through the air with a cry as she fell, slamming her razor-sharp claw into Eric Heldalf and tossing him bodily across the length of the tavern with a pained cry. Sorey thrust his palm outward the moment he landed, making contact with the body of the man named Michael and sending him sprawling with a deafening blast of mana.

"You would dare?!" Heldalf's furious roar echoed in amidst the confines of the isolated space as he whirled backwards, his sword singing as he drew it from the sheath at his waist. "Who are you?!" he demanded, his eyes shooting between Sorey and Velvet as they faced off against him as one. Wordlessly, Sorey shot a confirming glance at Velvet who responded in kind. In the next heartbeat, the two charged forward, their boots slamming on the wooden floorboards and their weapons singing as they tore through the air towards the general, who gritted his teeth and readied his stance.

His expression suddenly relaxed.

"...Ah, Shepherd." Even as they neared him, he slowly glanced off to the side, a thoughtful look forming on his face. "...I see," he observed markedly. "So he is reacting to your presence."

Sorey blinked in confusion.

BOOM!

With a violent, all-encompassing detonation, the tavern suddenly tore apart, the walls, floor, and ceiling rupturing in jagged lines of blinding malevolence. Thrown off-balance by the violent trembling of the floor, the two grounded to a halt and braced themselves, casting about wildly as the memory around them began to crumble. The reeling figures of Eric Heldalf and of the Shepherd Michael dissolved amidst the chaos, joining the remainder of the memory as it was relegated to nothing but a dark void of miasma.

Then, in the very next moment, Sorey found himself standing in snow.

He whirled around in confusion, his heart racing inside his chest as he struggled to comprehend the dramatic change in his surroundings. He was thankful when he noted that Velvet still stood at his side despite the chaos, until he belatedly registered the expression on her face. An entangled mix of emotions clearly and visibly warred for dominance within his companion as she stared at the sight before her. Slowly, Sorey followed her gaze, taking in the world in which he now stood.

The sharp, acidic smell of smoldering sulfur permeated the freezing cold air, the light snowfall tainted with traces of ash. A haunting silence dominated the world, punctuated only by the crackling of residual flames and the haunting moan of the frigid sea breeze. Naval vessels of sizes that Sorey had only ever seen depicted in ancient textbooks groaned miserably from where they laid, their bent and contorted masts protruding out from the frigid waters beside the docks.

On the ground before them laid dozens of dead bodies, their limbs contorted at unnatural angles. Snow alighted softly upon the metal of their unmoving armor, soaking up the blood while slowly burying each corpse where they had fallen within shadow graves. Claw marks streaked gratuitously across the ground, ripping deep grooves into the stone of the port and occasionally intersecting with where a soldier had fallen, his armor crushed like tinfoil in the path of a beast's rampage.

Sorey felt sick.

Despite all the time that had passed, the appearance of the scene of Hellawes in flames, violently rendered in the stark lighting of hazy malevolence, unleashed a sudden onslaught of memories in Velvet's mind. She recalled it all in a single instant. The screams of her victims. The crying and cursing of the people that she harmed. The searing hatred and lust for vengeance. The name of her brother, and the name of his killer. It was as if a bound wound that had sat for weeks had been torn violently open once more.

She curled her daemon claw into a tight fist and bit her lip hard, welcoming the spike of pain as it tore through her spiraling mind. None of this was new. She had something else to focus on. With that universally grounding thought, the Lord of Calamity's eyes sharpened with acute clarity. Her gaze locked onto the one thing that did not correctly match the memories of the scene.

Heldalf's gaze was affixed on her from where he stood before the ruined docks, wordlessly observing her reaction. A cold sea breeze swept from the south, causing his black and gold military coat to ripple behind him. Amidst the silence of the scene of death, the man spoke, his lower, guttural voice the one that they were both familiar with.

"This memory is of great significance to him," he observed aloud, moving his gaze slowly about the desecrated port. "It was the first to emerge when he sensed your presence."

Tearing his eyes away from the bodies at his feet, Sorey struggled to comprehend what the man was saying. "'Him?'" he mumbled.

"Maotelus." Velvet did not tear her gaze away from Heldalf as she answered the Shepherd, crossing her arms before her chest. "...In the last gem, we heard his voice. He said my name," she muttered. Her eyes soon narrowed at the one who was responsible for it all. "This isn't just a tampered iris gem," she growled. "It's something different, isn't it?"

The human figure of the Lord of Calamity nodded his head, a pleased expression on his face as he laid his hand on the pommel of his sword. "These fragments contain his memories of the world, drawn by my command." His regal boots crackled upon the icy stones of the port as he turned and strolled to the side, idly examining his human hands as he did so. "As such, they are connected to him, as extensions of his domain."

Velvet's eyes narrowed. "...All this malevolence is coming from him, then," she realized darkly, glancing around at the all-encompassing haze of malevolence still continuously seeping through her arm by her side. Her lips drew tightly in a wordless, restrained fury.

Snow crackled under Sorey's boot as he stepped forward in the wake of Heldalf's words. "Why?! he demanded urgently, slowly putting the pieces together in his mind. "Why would you extract and plant these memories for us to find? What are you after?"

The hellion came to a halt at the Shepherd's words, his eyes staring off into the distance beyond. The falling snow mixed with ash alighted in his golden hair, of no consequence to him as he seemed to ponder the question for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was candid.

"You intrigue me, Shepherd," he stated plainly. He turned around, affixing his gaze to Sorey's with a calm expression on his face. "During our first encounter, I saw nothing but white purity synonymous with the naïve concept of a Shepherd." He tapped a single finger on the pommel of his decorated sword, his gaze shifting towards the woman standing by his side.

"Yet I had grossly misjudged the truth. Heedless of the manipulations I enacted, to goad your pure and naïve self into self-righteousness, you never once acted how you should have." He shook his head, curiosity plain in his expression. "...Thus, I find that I wish to see what a Shepherd such as yourself will choose to do when you truly understand," he stated quietly, holding Sorey's gaze. "When you have been shown all that needs to be shown."

Sorey frowned at the strange intensity in the human Heldalf's eyes. Even though he was keenly aware of the true nature of the monster speaking to him, he could not help but consider how human the Lord of Calamity was behaving. It reminded him far too keenly of another.

As if reading his mind, Heldalf spoke once more, his words drifting in the frigid air of the blood-soaked docks, "For the sins of the past speak volumes for the present."

Sorey's jaw set as his gaze was inevitably drawn back to the corpses lying in the snow, surrounded by sets of the infinitely familiar claw marks of his companion. Slowly, his eyes rose towards where she stood in the snow, watching him with a stoic expression on her face. Her posture was casual – the message in her eyes clear.

He had known from the very beginning that the woman who had lied about her true name to him had a darkness that she kept contained within herself. He had watched as the clawed hellion tore apart and devoured hellions that could have been saved. He had seen the memories planted by Heldalf that had depicted her in her relentless conquest, crushing all who had gotten in his way. He himself had experienced firsthand the callousness of Velvet Crowe as she lied and manipulated him as a tool for her own uses, to be thrown away if proven unfit for the job. Now here she stood, uncaringly, with the bloody bodies at her feet – a visceral, real memory, fully accompanied by the smell of death and ash.

Yet, she had been there with him, in the times when he needed it the most. Through all of the lies and manipulation, she had guided him to this point, for better or for worse. She had cared for him and his friends, even when it wasn't necessary for her goals. She held a human side within herself that she actively refused to recognize. Heedless of her sins, heedless of the blood that she had spilt, he had made a decision that night in the wilderness of Lakehaven Heights to help her.

And that was what he planned to do.

Having firmly reminded himself of his true beliefs, Sorey's grip on his sword tightened as he turned to face Heldalf, determination etched into his expression. His boots crackled in the snow as he stepped over the bodies, walking towards the general watching him with an intent gaze. "Fine," he said, his voice echoing amidst the destroyed docks. "I'll do my best to try and understand what you have to show me." He came to a halt before Heldalf, his lips upturning into a frown as he carefully studied the image of the man that the hellion had once been.

"...But know that we will stop you." His words were absolute, his gaze hard as he drew his sword back, the Shepherd's cloak fluttering behind him as he did so. "We will save Maotelus from you, no matter what," he promised grimly. His ceremonial sword slid deep into the general's stomach with a wet squelch, spurts of blood oozing out from the wound and staining his royal black attire.

Heldalf failed to react in agony despite the blade in his stomach. Instead, he took a single step back, the blade still embedded in him, and met the Shepherd's gaze. There was almost a kind of sadness in his eyes.

"I expect nothing less," he promised quietly. With that, he stepped backwards and fell off the edge of the pier, his bloodstained coat wrapping his body plunging into the freezing cold waters below.

The splash of impact caused a dull thrum to echo throughout the world, the surrounding scene in the ancient port city beginning to waver in form and color as if melting. Having done what needed to be done, Sorey turned to face Velvet amidst the fading dream, his expression softening. She returned his gaze peculiarly, surprise evident in her expression. In doing so, she failed to notice as the corpses at her feet and the torn and burnt buildings of Hellawes faded, engulfing both her and the Shepherd in an endless expanse of nothingness.

---​

The silver flames of purification glistened blindingly in the night air, throwing the rest of the moonlit plaza in stark lighting and framing the figures of Velvet and Sorey as they reappeared amidst the conflagration. They blinked in disorientation at the abrupt transition from the memory, their eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness of night.

Sorey's eyebrows furrowed as he eventually registered that the flames were failing to purify their target. The golden owl hellion still perched near motionlessly before the two of them, watching them with intermittently blinking eyes as the flames of purification puttered uselessly against its vibrant hide. Regardless of how much power he channeled with his left hand splayed out before him, there was no effect upon the hellion.

After a moment longer, he curled his hand into a fist.

The flames cut off immediately in response, falling into small embers that quickly vanished, leaving the owl hellion unscathed on the cobblestones before them. In the absence of the crackling of the flames, the two of them were able to register the low groaning of the groups of people lying on the stones slowly regaining consciousness. Sorey glanced around at the humans blearily rising to their feet and nodded to himself as he made a decision. He took a step back and met the strange hellion's inhuman gaze, deliberately raising and then sheathing the sword in his hand with a quiet squeal of metal on metal.

At his side, Velvet raised an eyebrow as his actions. "You're letting it go?" she asked.

He nodded wordlessly, maintaining eye contact with the enormous owl. It stared back at him; boundless intelligence clear in its amber eyes. Then, after a moment longer, it spread its wings and pushed itself up into the air with the aid of its legs and the powerful sea breeze. It soared upwards into the moonlit sky like a golden star, quickly receding into the darkness as it departed into the heavens.

In its wake, Sorey turned to face Velvet, a calm expression on his face. "Remember what I said in Ladylake," he reminded her, his lips spreading into a soft smile. "My dream is to bring about a world in which all beings willing to coexist can thrive. I meant what I said, Velvet. I'm not backing down from that – not for a moment."

She blinked. Of all the things that she had been anticipating the Shepherd to say in the aftermath of the bloody scene that had been so suddenly drawn from her past, that had not been one of them. She narrowed her eyes almost imperceptibly, closely scrutinizing his expression for any hint of duplicity. After a long moment, having found none, she finally shook her head in exasperation. "...You're annoyingly stubborn, you know that?" she sighed, her lips twitching upward in a wry smile despite herself.

Sorey grinned brightly in response. His grin then disappeared as he cranked his mouth open into a wide yawn, his pent-up exhaustion seemingly settling in all of his limbs all at once and leaving him wavering on his feet.

Velvet crossed her arms and looked on with dry amusement as he struggled to even stay standing, lack of sleep and the long days of travel taking its toll on his body. "...You sure talk big for someone who can't even take proper care of themselves," she muttered. Her gaze rose as she noticed the remainder of the group running towards them from across the plaza. "Come on." She laid a supporting hand on his shoulder which he gratefully welcomed in his exhaustion.

Together, the two of them returned to the rest of the group underneath the shadow of the one-armed statue quietly watching the scene from above. Another stray ocean breeze arrived as they departed together, sweeping about the quiet plaza amidst the tranquil light of the waning moon.

A trace of a distant memory, fading soundlessly into the night.

---​

Author's Note: For good measure, here's another update to commemorate the two-year anniversary of the creation of this fic. Thank you all so much for joining me!

Happy New Year, all.

- CloudFry, January 1st, 2021

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 27 – Throne.

Thunder rumbled and rolled amidst the hot, humid air, the distant vibrations causing the sprawling cobblestones below to tremble. A dense blanket of rugged clouds engulfed the sky, suffocating the world amidst a dreadful sensation of stillness.

The capital city of Pendrago laid frozen in the stillborn afternoon. Debris littered streets. Boards hung haphazardly nailed to windows. Vibrant colors accenting rooves and windowsills laid muted under the dim lighting. Not a soul could be seen anywhere amidst a desolate wasteland that once was the bustling metropolis at the heart of the Rolance empire.

CLANG!

With a grunt, Zaveid flicked his wrist, throwing a glance around him as his pendulum whirled back to him with a snap, having deflected off the sword of a hellion. All around him, the sounds of battle resounded off the ancient stone walls of the courtyard. The Pendrago castle loomed above it all, silent and unyielding amidst the overcast sky.

He cursed, swiftly leaping away as the enormous pigman hellion he'd been attacking rammed its enormous sword into the cobblestones where he'd been standing. The stone cracked and caved inward with a violent bang.

"Chill out, man!" he yelled. With his long hair whirling about him, he raised his arm. "Wind Blade!"

The hellion let out a roar of agony as razor-sharp neon green ribbons converged in one massive vortex, hurling it backwards. It crashed with an enormous thud against one of the walls of the courtyard before sliding down onto the ground, motionless. Zaveid let out a breath.

"Zaveid! Watch out!"

BANG!

The wind seraph jerked in surprise before lunging away, an explosion of mana right behind him causing heat to wash over the back of his neck. With the aid of his artes, he was able to flash through the air a few meters away from the blast radius with moments to spare.

He landed in an awkward heap on the cobblestones. "Now hold on there just a minute!" he yelled indignantly as he pushed himself back to his feet. "Last I checked, we were on same team!"

Sliding through the air to arrive next to the man, Bienfu made a face as he turned back towards the horde of hellions stumbling back to their feet after the explosion. "I saved your life, bien. You should be thanking me," the normin seraph replied curtly.

"Oh, thank you for nearly frying me to a crisp," Zaveid drawled, charging forward and slashing his pendulums in a whirlwind, slicing the beleaguered hellions in swift gestures. "Maybe I should thank these guys for trying to gut me while I'm at it?" He punctuated his words with a violent gesture, conjuring a set of giant fangs of wind that proceeded to smash together, gnashing a trio of hellions into submission at once.

"Somebody's grouchy," Bienfu grumbled, flitting through the air and preparing another offensive arte.

Zaveid leapt back and dodged another enormous monster's club, the long strips of leather dangling off his wrists whirling in the winds. "What can I say?" he replied. "A daring mission into the heart of enemy territory with a whole pack of humans to babysit leaves me feeling a teensy bit on edge."

CLANG!

Nearby, Captain Sergei let out a roar in a feat of incredible strength, pushing against a super-powered soldier's spear and proceeding to slice deftly through his guard. He briefly glanced up towards the castle of Pendrago looming above, a serious expression on his face.

"Squad, to me!" he called loudly, raising his shining sword into the cloudy sky. "And lo, great seraphim protectors, I implore you, heed my call for aid!"

"I do wish he would stop calling us that," Grimoirh sighed. In complete contrast to the battle taking place all around them, the normin seraph seemed bafflingly at ease, strolling atop the cobblestones with her book held open.

With an almost absent gesture, she flicked her paw, causing a devastating detonation to occur across the plaza, tossing a group of pig hellions away like leaves on the wind, saving the lives of a handful of outnumbered Platinum Knights. Sergei called out his gratitude to the gracious invisible protectors into the air in response.

"I dunno," Zaveid remarked, straightening and laying a hand on his belt. "It has a nice ring to it."

"Says the guy with a mountain-sized ego," Bienfu shot back.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Zaveid drawled. "Chicks dig that sorta manly attitude, ya know?" He gave a fanged grin. "C'mon, Bienfu, lighten up. You'll never be able to pick up another girl like that last one with that sourpuss attitude."

"Another girl...? That last-?! Bienfu's eyes bulged as he choked helplessly on the implication. "B-B-BIEN! That's n-not-!"

Suddenly, an enormous roar emitted outwards, cutting off all conversation and drawing the attention of all towards a newcomer to the fray. The cobblestones underfoot trembled rhythmically as it approached, its height allowing it to tower over even the other pig hellions in the courtyard.

"...Now this was the sorta thing that I was worryin' about." Zaveid shook his head as the powerful Dragonnewt slammed its claws into the gang of pig hellions in a terrible show of force. "You can't go into the lion's den without findin' some lions."

Grimoirh's eyes narrowed. "Retreat may be prudent," she observed. "The three of ought to be capable of overcoming the beast, yet there would be casualties amongst the humans."

"And after all this work to sneak into the city," Zaveid sighed, shaking his head. "This plan was risky to from the start – guess it's time to cut our losses, eh Bienfu?"

He blinked and turned to Bienfu when there was no response. "...Hey," he prompted with raised eyebrows, sliding a hand back and forth in front of the shellshocked normin. "You hearin' me?"

Grimoirh sighed.

Sergei watched with a set jaw as a deceptively normal-looking man pushed his way into the fray of Rolance soldiers, throwing his arms around and tossing them all away like twigs. He didn't need resonance to be able to see how bad things had just become.

He glanced over his shoulder at the rest of his squad, a team of over a dozen of his finest men joining him in his scouting mission on the capital. "Men," he yelled, "hold firm!" His grip tightened on the pommel of his sword as he readied his stance, facing the oncoming hellion as it turned towards the group of humans having finished off the other hellions. "Trust in the seraphim... and believe in the strength of your own two hands."

His eyes narrowed. "Today... we fight for our families!" he cried. "Today, we fight for Rolance! Death to the usurper king, Heldalf, Lord of Calamity!"

A fierce rallying cry was his response, the group of humans hardening their formation against the supernatural. "...No matter what," Sergei muttered to himself, as dry thunder rumbled ominously in the distance. "I will do right – in the name of the Shepherd Sorey!"

The hellion raised its arm.

Suddenly, a lone cry echoed out into the stillborn air. "Hawk!"

"DAWNBREAKER!"

CRACK!

A massive explosion suddenly rippled through the air. Imperceptible moments later, a single projectile sliced forward, trailing a shockingly bright tail of white-hot fire streaking directly towards the Dragonnewt's head.

BANG!

With an enormous shockwave, the round detonated directly on target, engulfing the partially grown dragon entirely in a massive ball of dripping fire. The entire courtyard was momentarily engulfed in a blinding flare of vibrant orange hues, the stones of the city streets rattling violently.

A barrage of follow-up explosions resounded in the aftermath of the first like the aftershocks of a powerful earthquake. Brilliant flashes of neon green and blazing red appeared like flashes of multicolored lightning alongside deafening booms. Flowerpots shattered as they tumbled helplessly from windowsills, poorly nailed boards collapsing under the strain.

When the shaking had subsided and the flash had dissipated at last, Sergei lowered the arm shielding his eyes, and blinked in shock at the sight of the man that had been about to attack him and his men.

Or rather, what remained of him.

"Ow..."

Leo's voice filled the courtyard as he moaned, stumbling forward and furiously rubbing his shoulder. "Son of a... I haven't done that in forever. I hate using that arte!" he growled grouchily. In his arms, he cradled a strange wooden and metal contraption, about half the length of a normal spear with a trail of smoke rising from one end.

"Leo?" Sergei said in surprise, lowering his sword. He glanced at the foreign weapon in the man's hands. "I take it you've recovered what you were looking for?"

The knight nodded as he stopped before the squad, still rolling his shoulders. "Yeah. No more time for subtlety and all." He glanced at the rest of the men and gestured over his shoulder. "C'mon, fellas. Mission's still on – let's go swipe something useful for the Shepherd and the others."

Sergei nodded, straightening his posture and returning his bloodied sword to its sheath. "As ever, I am grateful to have you by our side, Leo. Let us make haste and pray that this skirmish did not alert too many of Heldalf's men."

"Yeah, about that." Leo frowned as he glanced about the desecrated courtyard and the bodies of hellions littering the area. "Doesn't this strike you as a little odd?"

"Such sparsity of guards?" Sergei shook his head. "Quite. And I haven't the slightest inkling why... Rolance military doctrine has always placed the security of the capital as among the highest priorities."

He glanced upwards at the castle, standing ever so silently above. "...Yet when dealing with a Lord of Calamity for a king, perhaps our human logic does not hold," he considered quietly.

"I guess..." Leo muttered, his brow furrowing.

He then blinked, turning to grin at Sergei. "Oh, and by the way. Nice speech back there. Real rabble-rousing – pulled the heartstrings pretty good." He gave the other man a cheeky thumbs-up. "I was half-tempted to hold off there and just let you all lay into the guy."

Sergei's eyebrow twitched. "While I appreciate the sentiment, need I remind you that you are under my direct command as a soldier of the Platinum Knights?" he stressed at length. "Your orders were to retrieve your weapon and to then return to aid us immediately."

Leo shrugged carelessly. "But if the captain fell during his heroic charge, then I'm fairly certain I'd be the captain then!" He gave Sergei a cheshire grin. "Sounds like a nicer deal to me than being ordered around left and right," he drawled.

"And you call your seraph companion lazy," Sergei sighed.

He shook his head and glanced back at the others. "Come, men," he said, gesturing with this arm. "Let us return soon to Lastonbell and Tintagel with intelligence to turn the tide of this war and take back our home." He was met with murmurers of assent as the small squad of Platinum Knights followed his lead determinedly.

Meanwhile, Leo glanced at the four seraphim, unseen by the other humans. "You guys good?" he asked. "Thanks for the help there."

Grimoirh, in contrast to her customary attitude of refinement, nodded with a hint of steel in her eyes. "You were just in time. We're ready." Beside her, the seraphic wolf pup Hawk stood ready, despite hints of exhaustion in his stance from recently expelled mana.

Zaveid grinned. "Well... most of us, anyway." He jerked his thumb towards Bienfu, who, for some reason, looked to be stuck in a mindless loop of muttering. Leo decided not to ask.

Together, the team pushed onward into the capital, leaving behind a desecrated courtyard of simmering felled malevolence. The sky continued to thrum with distant thunder amidst the humid air as the men pushed into the castle itself, engulfing their world within the muted hallways of the ancient structure.

It was utterly silent.

Leo and Sergei exchanged a look. Together, the group continued deeper into the castle, carefully sliding around corners and maintaining a strict formation in the case of an ambush. Evidence of the coup that had taken place not long ago were everywhere – scorch marks, fallen armor and weapons, and the occasional rotting corpse.

And yet there was not a single soul, human or hellion, to be seen.

"Bien. This is so strange... where is everybody?" Bienfu, who had snapped out of his stupor a while back, muttered.

Zaveid's eyes were hard. "Something's up," he said, his body tense as a bowstring. "I don't feel anything moving all with the wind. It's almost like the whole place is abandoned."

"A trap, perhaps?" Grimoirh proposed, standing atop Zaveid's shoulder with her book in hand.

"If it's a trap, it's a pretty lousy one," Leo answered lowly, carefully stepping around a corner at the head of the knights, sweeping his rifle around to cover the desolated hallways. "Didn't that guy go through a bunch of effort to kill the emperor and take over the entire nation as 'King Heldalf'"? Why would he not even bother defending what he'd taken over?"

"I have very bad feeling about this," Sergei murmured, glancing around and narrowing his eyes. "...Come. Let us find answers."

Following the captain as he tread down hallways infinitely familiar to him, the knights padded silently on the carpet through the hauntingly quiet castle. Shining floors once polished crystal clear for the sake of noblemen and aristocrats were painted red with dried blood. Doors of finely cut wood hung loosely on hinges, locks kicked wide open. Chambers with glistening stained glass stood solemnly empty, the windows looking out in a deathly still city. Through it all, not a single thing moved.

Finally, they arrived at an enormous, closed door – one several times taller than the average height of a man. Sergei halted here and steadied himself, readjusting his grasp upon the pommel of his sword.

He glanced back at his men, meeting their eyes and nodding slowly. As one, the squad readied themselves, falling into position with swords at the ready. Then, after a heartbeat had passed, Sergei stepped forward and slammed his boot into the door.

BANG!

The sound of cracking wood echoed deafeningly into the chamber beyond, disturbing the stillborn air. As one, the knights flooded into the room beyond, mouths open in silent yells as they dove heedlessly towards whatever horrors laid beyond.

They came to a halt. Leo and Sergei exchanged looks, then returned their gaze to the scene before them as a grim realization began to take hold.

The capital was empty.

Outside the enormous stained-glass windows of the throne room of Rolance, the rumbling of thunder thrummed at a quieter volume, the storm moving further and further away from the city.

---​

A single bead of sweat glistened as it rolled down his temple. His breath came out in shaky, rough exhales followed by uncertain, lightheaded inhaling. His arched back was curled forward in a locked position to fight the adrenaline, the proud garb of the Shepherd wreathing him as a reminder of the bravery he must display.

The spoon in his hand trembled violently.

Velvet rolled her eyes. "Whatever Heldalf has in store for us, I sure hope it doesn't include serving us soup," she remarked dryly. "If it does, we might as well give up now."

Sorey continued to keep his full attention on his dreadful adversary – a spoon filled with a small sample of soup. He glanced up, an incredibly nervous expression on his face. "Lailah," he asked tentatively, his spoon still trembling in fear, "a-are you sure that this soup... I mean," he chuckled nervously, "is it...?"

Sitting across from him on the other side of the wooden dining table, the fire seraph tilted her head to the side. "'Is it...' what?" Lailah parroted curiously, glancing at the pot of soup she'd brought with her, sitting docilly atop a coaster placed on the table in front of her. There didn't seem to be anything especially wrong with it.

Standing beside the Shepherd seated at the table, Velvet gestured simply with her bandaged hand. "He's asking if it's going to leave him whimpering on the ground like the last one," she said.

"Velvet!" Sorey glanced reproachfully at her before turning back to Lailah with a placating expression. "T-that's not it, Lailah," he promised her with an unconvincing smile, still carefully keeping the spoon of soup in the corner of his eyes as if it were a wild animal that could pounce at any moment. "I was just... wondering if maybe you had changed up the recipe this time or something! It smells really good!"

The therion just shook her head.

At his words, Lailah's eyes brightened innocently. "I'm glad!" she chirped with a smile. "They say that being aromatic is the first most important obstacle to clear for truly gourmet dishes."

She leant slightly to the side, playing with her long hair as she admitted, "And well, it has been such a long time since I last made soup for everyone." There were twinkles her eyes as she smiled warmly at him. "So, I decided to go out of my way and experiment with an entirely brand-new recipe. They say that being creative is the second most important obstacle for truly gourmet dishes, after all."

A second bead of sweat fell swiftly down Sorey's temple, trailing the first. "A-a brand-new recipe, huh? W-wow, that's real exciting, Lailah!" He glanced over desperately at Velvet, sheer panic showing on his face.

She looked on impassively. "Can't taste anything, remember?" she pointed out tonelessly.

"Right..." Trapped like a cornered rat, Sorey returned his gaze to Lailah's hopeful and anticipatory expression, then finally to the trembling spoon in his hand. Left with no other options, he let out a breath, resigning himself to his fate.

The spoon shook with increasing intensity all the way up until it met his lips. He tossed his head back, swallowed as if it were hard liquor, and cringed, frozen with a spoon in his mouth and his head angled upwards waiting for the inevitable as the taste became known to his senses.

He made a face.

By his side, Velvet crossed her arms. "...No puking," she observed absently. "That's a dramatic improvement over the last time, Lailah." She turned to the fire seraph whose eyes were growing wider and wider. "You've gotten better."

Lailah clapped her hands together and let out a happy cheer. "I'm so glad!" she exclaimed. "To hear that coming from you Velvet – that means a very great deal to me." She put a finger to her chin, turning to eye Sorey thoughtfully. "It seems fitting – as Shepherd, Sorey has improved immensely throughout his journeys. It should only be right that I too, have undergone my own journey of gourmet greatness."

Across from her, Sorey managed to extract the spoon from his mouth without gagging. "Should I ask her what number 'no puking' is as an obstacle is for truly gourmet dishes?" he mumbled to himself.

Velvet, with her acute hearing, gave him a discreet boot to the shin.

Oblivious to the Shepherd's wordless yelp of agony, Lailah suddenly stood from the table with a brilliant look on her face. "I know!" she declared. "I should volunteer to aid the refugee chefs – then all those weary souls will be capable of enjoying the fruits of our labor!"

Both Velvet and Sorey looked at her in alarm.

"O-oh! B-but Lailah," Sorey reasoned quickly, exchanging a borderline panicked look with Velvet, "you're a seraph! Wouldn't that be a little strange? Plus, shouldn't the human chefs have things under control already?"

"I am certain the chefs would not dissent if a seraph of the Shepherd's had chosen do their jobs for them for a change," Lailah dismissed with a dainty wave, stars still in her eyes as she imagined the scene in her head. "Truly, this event could be just what the people need to lift their spirits in these uncertain times!" She nodded deeply to herself, becoming more and more convinced with each word.

Velvet stepped forward. "Not happening," she said, shaking her head firmly.

Lailah's expression turned petulant in an eyeblink. "Huh...? But why not?" she implored.

A single index finger pointed into the air. "Because cooking is about love and care." Velvet's voice had taken on a gentle but firm lecturing tone. "If you cook for hundreds of people at once – people you don't know at all – then you're losing out on one of the most valuable aspects of preparing a meal for people." She shrugged, stepping back. "I don't think you're there yet, Lailah. Not yet."

The fire seraph looked disappointed but nodded slowly in understanding. "I see. You truly are a wise cook, Velvet," she said soberly. Determination began fostering in her eyes once more. "Then I suppose I shall just have to keep on practicing, and one day be able to provide such loving cuisine to so many people at once!"

Both Velvet and Sorey let out a breath of relief.

The fire that Lailah had set alight to use for cooking simmered gently in the hearth. The muffled sound of motion and activity filtered through the small, yet cozy diamond paned windows set into the walls of the wooden house. The daylight calmly streaming through the windows joined with the light of the fire to create a mosaic of soft shadows and patches of light illuminating the quiet home.

"...It truly has been quite some time since this all began, hasn't it?" Lailah's expression had gone contemplative as she sat back in her chair, sweeping her gaze across the interior of the quiet home. She glanced at the two of them with a soft smile. "Much time has passed since I last prepared soup for everyone. We've partaken in many a meal together in the months since."

Sorey chuckled, shaking his head. "Yeah. It's kinda hard for me to believe how much has happened," he admitted. "A lot's changed since the day I stepped out of Elysia with Mikleo, off to explore a new world."

Standing at the Shepherd's side, Velvet laid a hand on her hip. "I bet you got a little more than you bargained for," she guessed dryly.

"Definitely," Sorey nodded sagely. "There was no way I could've anticipated the challenges I would face as Shepherd, or that I'd be a Shepherd at all. And who would've known that I'd end up meeting so many colorful people along the way?"

Velvet shrugged. "Idiots are drawn to one another, I suppose."

"Oh my." Lailah glanced at the hellion, tilting her head contemplatively. "Could this be what humans mean when they refer to 'pots and kettles?'" she asked, a somewhat coy smile on her lips.

The therion gave her a flat look in return. "I can still devour your precious Shepherd, you know."

"I am well aware," Lailah promised, her smile unchanging.

"Still, I'm really glad," Sorey continued, a bright expression on his face as he glanced over his shoulder at Velvet. "There's no way I could've made it through all those trials if I hadn't had everyone with me. Including you guys – thanks."

Velvet shook her head in amusement. "Only you would thank someone for trying to kill you," she retorted.

The Shepherd chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "Guess so." He shook his head gently but firmly. "But without you, I'm sure I wouldn't have had the strength to overcome some of the challenges we faced," he reaffirmed, meeting her eyes. "I'm truly grateful that you're here with us, Velvet."

She stared at him for a moment before glancing at Lailah in exasperation. "See? Don't lump me in with the likes of him," she muttered.

Lailah gently covered her smile with a handful of casting cards. "As you say."

After a moment, she let the cards fall from her face as she stood from her dining chair. Her long hair fell behind her as she straightened primly, considering the two of them gently. "...From what it seems, the future may yet hold more challenges for us in the coming days," she said, twining her fingers before her dress.

"Yet whatever is to come, I am grateful for the events that led us to now." She gave a quiet, humble bow to the two of them. "I am proud to have been your Prime Lord, Sorey."

Sorey smiled in return, likewise sliding to his feet while adjusting the scabbard of his sword on his belt. "I'm glad, Lailah." He nodded, solemnly holding his gloved fist to his chest. "With his drastic moves of late, I get the feeling that there are some big challenges ahead of us." He let his fist fall. "But whatever plans Heldalf has in store for us, we'll be able to take him on. I know it," he said firmly. "I'm glad you and everyone are still here with me, even after all that has happened."

He glanced at both Lailah and Velvet, gentle enthusiasm showing on his face. "I'll do my best to make my dream come true, for everyone."

Velvet shrugged. "So long as Heldalf doesn't have soup in store for us," she added dryly.

Sorey chuckled. "Well... yeah."

He shook his head, stepping away from the table. "I think I'm going to head out and check in on the others. Did you guys want to come?" he asked.

"No, thank you." Lailah shook her head gently. "I believe I shall tend to this home for a while longer."

Sorey nodded then glanced questioningly at Velvet, who gestured for him to continue. Together, the two of them turned away from the dining table and opened the front door to the home, letting in a great burst of unfiltered sunlight and noise. The hinges squealed slightly as the door swung shut behind the two, once again isolating and restoring the peace of the quiet home.

Lailah stood there in the middle of the room, glancing softly about her surroundings in the wake of their departure. The fire continued to simmer in the hearth, casting soft orange hues atop the light brown wooden floorboards worn down slightly from years of repetitive use. Nestled amidst the rafters up above stood a small ledge for storage filled with weathered old books. It was a calm, isolated, familial-feeling place.

She frowned and brought a hand to her chest, silently wondering at the strange sensation of longing that had crept up inside of her.

---​

Upon leaving the house, the two of them were instantly greeted by a bright blue sky – a vibrant backdrop for a world of bustle and energy. Hammers clacked rhythmically and loudly in the air alongside the calls and chatter of workers boarding up smashed windows and broken walls. In major thoroughfares, a curious mixture of people bustled about, some carrying construction equipment, groceries, or even weapons as part of the local volunteer patrol. The Great Belfry of Lastonbell stood vigilant above it all, riddled with a myriad of gaping structural wounds yet still standing firm in the afternoon sun.

Sorey couldn't help but smile at the sight. The city of Lastonbell, bruised, beaten, and burnt, still retained every single speck of the energy and spirit that it had held when he'd first arrived. A flock of pigeons flew overhead through corridors between multistory buildings as the two made their way through the streets, careful to stay out of the way of people carrying heavy materials.

"Ho! Sorey, Velvet!"

The two of them glanced over and found Felice and Ayn Talfryn waving at them over the heads of the crowd, standing amidst a collection of horse-drawn carriages and crates. Sorey grinned and waved back as they made their way through the street over to the twin Sparrowfeather merchants.

"Heard from the boss that you guys got back last night. Welcome back." Talfryn greeted as they arrived, tossing a wrapped bundle to Felice who caught it deftly. "As you can see," Talfryn grinned, jerking a cheery thumb towards his surroundings, "we Sparrowfeathers have been holding down the fort pretty well, don't you think?"

"We can't take all the credit, though," Felice added, passing the bundle to a worn-down looking man waiting at a table temporarily propped up in front of the carriages. "You can't bring an entire city back on its feet without a little healthy cooperation from its residents. Not to mention the help of the Platinum Knights and all."

"It really is impressive to see it now," Sorey agreed, crossing his arms and nodding. "When we left, Lastonbell looked pretty bad."

"I'd say 'pretty bad' is putting it lightly," Talfryn chuckled, briefly scribbling something down in a ledger. "The town was a complete wreck after those storms, not to mention all the straggling bandits."

"Then I take it you were able to secure the town?" Velvet guessed, laying a hand on her hip.

"Well, we Sparrowfeathers didn't lift a finger of course," Felice replied naturally, waving a hand in the air. "But yeah, everyone cleaned up shop just fine, even without the almighty Shepherd around."

"That's great to hear," Sorey said with a smile.

"Still," Felice continued with a sigh, briefly lifting her cap and wiping her brow, "things are pretty hectic. Now word that the city has been retaken has gotten out, it seems like everyone from all of Rolance is coming to this town for refuge. More folks show up every day – we can barely keep up with housing and foodstuffs."

"That said, we'll be alright though," Talfryn added, strolling over to the rest of them having tucked the ledger away. "We've got plenty of good contacts in Hyland. You can trust on us Sparrowfeathers to get the job done, no matter what," he promised.

"What about you guys?" Felice asked, crossing her arms and tilting her head. "From the sound of things, you all found what you were looking for at Meliodas?"

"We found it," Sorey confirmed, letting his arms fall. He frowned. "Though I'm afraid we're at a bit of a loss as to where to look next," he added. "That last tampered iris gem didn't really give us too much in the way of clues."

Velvet laid a hand on her hip. "We were thinking the scouts might have information we could use," she said. "Shouldn't they be back soon?"

"Yeah." Talfryn nodded. "That was the plan, anyway." He briefly paused to turn around and hand another bundle to a new refugee at the table before turning back. "For now, you all are better off taking a moment to rest." He shook his head. "I think you've been through enough recently. It wouldn't do anyone any good if the great Shepherd were to collapse on the streets out of exhaustion, would it?"

Felice took a moment to lean her body against a double stack of large crates and shake her head. "If anything," she sighed, "I think we're the ones who've been through a lot recently."

She jabbed an irritable finger at Velvet. "I had to babysit that one for weeks not too long ago, you know," she groused, wriggling her finger at the therion who raised a dry eyebrow in response. "Honestly, thinking back to it, of all the people that the boss could've assigned me to surveil, she just had to choose the most irritating one possible."

Velvet waved a hand in the air. "Nobody asked you to get as involved with me as you did," she said carelessly. "If you have anybody to blame for that, it's yourself."

"See?!" Felice exclaimed at her brother, gesturing urgently at the therion. "Irritating!"

Talfryn gave his sister a wide grin. "Since you mentioned in, I guess I did have to babysit Sorey for a while there, too," he said wryly. "Though I suppose he was a little bit less of a handful."

She shot her brother a dangerous glare. "Wish I could say the same for you," she muttered sourly. "Almost getting yourself killed... honestly." Shaking her head, she glanced at the Shepherd and the hellion standing side-by-side before them. "But given the facts, it looks like I definitely had more of a handful to deal with than you did."

"Ah, I don't know," her brother replied easily, casually supporting the back of his neck with his hands. "Honestly it sounds like she was pretty well-behaved, all things considered," he grinned. "Now, trying to teach a bumbling Shepherd to handle an operation like that? Well, that was quite the experience."

Felice's eye twitched. "You didn't have to worry about him going off and trying to get himself killed with some sort of self-sacrificial hate complex!" she heatedly shot back. "I swear, I lost years of my life wondering if I had made a mistake telling her where the Shepherd was!"

"All you did was give directions," Talfryn grinned easily. "That's what a map does, and you don't see maps complaining about emotional stress, do you?"

"I'll show you emotional stress when I make you do all the paperwork I missed," Felice growled.

Velvet and Sorey exchanged wry glances at the back-and-forth of the twins. "Guess things did turn out alright in the end, huh?" Sorey supposed. She shrugged in response.

The four of them then halted their conversations as they noticed a large group of weary travelers traveling down the thoroughfare towards them, a familiar figure leading the way alongside a group of Platinum Knights.

Princess Alisha, guiding the refugees towards them, raised a hand in greeting. "It would seem this group is from a village in the Pearloats Pasture," she said to the twins, gesturing towards the refugees. "They're all very, very tired. I believe they would prefer to reside in lodgings near to each other, if possible." The Talfryns nodded and sprang into motion preparing to divvy up supplies to the dozens of people there.

While they worked, Alisha took the time to walk up to Sorey and Velvet, out of the way of the proceedings. "I am glad things have been working out so well here in the city," she said, brushing a few errant strands of hair out of her face while glancing over her shoulder at the refugees lining up for aid behind her. "Ever since the decision of the Hyland chancellors to abandon Rolance to the whims of Heldalf, I have worried over what will become of the people of the country."

"Seems to me like they'll be okay," Sorey remarked, resting a hand on the pommel of his sword. "They've been through a lot, but everyone's so determined to build everything back up despite all of it."

The princess returned his smile with a soft and hopeful one. "The deeds of corrupt men such as the chancellors aside, the spirit of people such as that of this city bring me much hope." She clenched a gauntleted fist to her chest, shaking her head resolutely. "Truly, I must not lose sight of such hope. I would be a poor excuse of a knight should I allow myself to lose that trust in humanity's potential."

Sorey shifted on his feet, a hint of worry showing in his expression. "Alisha... Are you still be thinking of Maltran's words from back then?" he asked.

She gave him a gentle smile in return. "Thank you for your concern, but you need not worry for my sake." The princess shook her head resolutely, letting her clenched fist fall to her side. "The strength of the knight is one only the knight themselves must forge. Besides, one person cannot fix all the world's problems, Shepherd Sorey," she smiled. "I would advise against trying."

Sorey chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, alright."

"Is that... the Shepherd?!"

Sorey blinked, noticing the eyes of some of the members the new group of refugees focused directly upon him. At those words, surprise and astonishment rippled through the rest of the tired and weary travelers, all of whom turned as well to gaze wide-eyed at the man in a ceremonial white cloak standing mere paces away from them. More comments quickly followed suit, increasing in volume and frequency.

"...It's really him! Shepherd Sorey!"

"S-Savior! The Savior of Rolance!"

"Wielder of the power of lore..."

The group, almost as one, fell to their knees atop the cobblestones, their voices reaching an almost fevered pitch. Even those moments away from receiving food and water ignored that which was proffered and prostrated themselves before the Shepherd himself. Her arms crossed, Velvet narrowed her eyes and glanced at the subject of their devotion standing next to her.

Shepherd Sorey had taken a step back at the display, his eyes wide in surprise. Calls of worship only increased with every passing moment, each cry ringing in his ears. He swallowed dryly and made to make some sort of reply but found himself speechless.

Talfryn, Felice, and Alisha exchanged looks.

"Alright folks!" Felice suddenly yelled over the clamoring people; hands cupped around her mouth to increase the strength of her call. "This station is moving to the north side of town! I'm afraid you'll need to head over there to get your supplies and housing assignments!"

Even despite the fervor, this drew attention.

"Wh-what?! We just came from the north side of town!"

"We've traveled so much already – what gives?!"

"Now just hold on a second-!"

An uproar followed as certain members of the group stumbled to their feet, rushing forward as Felice and Talfryn visually began disassembling pieces of their stall.

As her brother began speaking with the angry masses, Felice stepped to the side and gave Sorey and Velvet a wink before gesturing with her hand. "Go on, get outta here!" she urged.

Alisha had a smile on her face as she latched onto Sorey's arm, who still seemed somewhat distraught at the turn of events, and tugged him away. Velvet followed at a distance, keeping a careful eye on the others in the group of refugees seemingly torn between their personal wellbeing and the sight of the Shepherd before them.

"If there's one thing that can be said about you Sorey," Alisha remarked as she tugged him away from the spectacle, "It's that power does not suit you. Truly."

Sorey smiled in response, but the expression didn't quite reach his eyes. "That... was really weird," he said, shaking his head slowly as Alisha released his arm. "Why in the world would all of those people to do such a thing?"

Steel boots clinked on cobblestones underfoot as Velvet caught up with the two of them. "Isn't it obvious?" she replied, turning away from the refugees as she walked. "Heldalf killed their king and took over the entire country at a time when nobody believed in hellions. You came and gave them a glimmer of hope." She shrugged. "Seems natural they'd fall head over heels for anyone who did that."

"I see..." Sorey only looked more troubled at her words.

Velvet watched as the Shepherd furrowed his brow, evidently perturbed by what the people had done. She said nothing more.

---​

A plaza stood amidst the brilliant blue afternoon, riddled with holes and craters noticeably older than damages caused by recent storms. A bone-dry fountain stood vacantly in the middle of it all, large, ragged chunks gouged out from various sections of the once-pristine stone. In the vicinity, small teams of people carefully labored to fill the largest of the gouges, seeking mend the worst of the wounds.

The sound of two hands slapping together briefly rang out above the light chattering of the workers tending to the ruined square. As they arrived, Sorey, Velvet, and Alisha were greeted with the sight of Rose and a red-haired saleswoman standing in front of another temporary Sparrowfeather stall, eagerly shaking the other's hand with impish looking grins.

The three of them exchanged amused looks as the two merchants caught sight of them and proceeded to wave them over with matching white smiles.

"Hey there! You folks are just in time to celebrate a grand moment in the entire history of Lastonbell commerce." the saleswoman crowed as she and Rose released their handshake. With both her hands free, she rested both on her hips and declared, "Rather than being just any 'ol third party seller, from this day forth, me and my ma's sales company has become an official partner of the Sparrowfeather Merchants!"

Rose was wearing a matching grin on her face. "With the sales that you've been bringing in, both before Lastonbell went under and after, I think it's only fair that you get to take a greater share of the profits," she remarked, briefly stepping away to tuck away some papers. "And with more funding and official support, I expect great things from our partnership!" she called.

"You better expect them!" the saleswoman called back, puffing her chest out just a little bit more. "Imagine, us selling the famed Sparrowfeather Mabo Curry Buns as a seller now officially sponsored by the Holy Shepherd and his followers – the Saviors of Rolance...?!" She giggled almost manically. "Sales will be through the roof! Just you wait!"

"...She's lost it," Velvet muttered with an exasperation shake of her head. "That head injury must've been more damaging than the doctor thought."

Alisha chuckled nervously, her glance jumping between the cackling saleswoman and Sorey. "Pardon Sorey," she asked with trepidation, "but might we be at risk of her transforming into some kind of gald hellion?"

Sorey let out a strangled noise in response, clearly not certain what to feel about being the "official sponsor" of a commercial food product.

At their reactions, the saleswoman shook her head with a sigh. "Ah, you folks don't get it." She waved her hand dismissively. "You might be supernatural people looking to save the world, but it looks like you've got a long ways to go in terms of business sense."

Velvet waved her bandaged hand sardonically. "You're just taking advantage of the situation and exploiting people. Doesn't take much 'business sense' to see that."

"C'mon, take a look around," the saleswoman replied adamantly, gesturing to the surrounding square riddled with marks of destruction. "I get it might be different for you, but to folks here, these past few weeks have been absolutely terrifying." She started counting with her fingers, "Revived war with Hyland, a coup in the capital, freak storms, anarchy."

She gestured at the folks working away to rebuild the buildings around them. "Hearing me hawk goods on the street corners at times like these? Shopping for food products? Well, things might feel just a bit better because of stuff like that." She made a reasonable gesture to herself, enthusiasm showing in her posture. "That's all ordinary people like me can do right now – help bring some normalcy back, bit by bit."

"That's the idea," Rose agreed, returning from the caravan behind them to stand beside the saleswoman. "Sometimes, it's not the big 'ol flashy changes that help people out, but the smaller, more mundane things that help convince them things are alright," she reasoned with a genuine gesture. "Business isn't all about profits, ya know."

Sorey had a small, warm smile on his face. "I see," he said thoughtfully. "In that case, I'm glad that you two are doing so much in that respect."

He shook his head, frowning, his thoughts flashing back to the near reverence of the people earlier. "...For me, all it feels like I'm able to do is to try and live up to everyone's expectations right now," he said rather quietly. "I sure hope I can."

"Don't sweat it!" Rose replied, waving a dismissive hand. "You're doing just fine."

Her impish grin returned briefly. "Though... I sure wouldn't be complaining if, say once in a while, you dropped a mention about the fine, tasty texture of the Mabo Curry Buns, the specialty product of the Sparrowfeathers, while other folks are listening," she added with a wink.

Heedless of Sorey's uncertain chuckle, she gestured over her shoulder at the saleswoman at the carriage of foodstuffs behind them. She also glanced questioningly at Alisha, who cocked her head curiously and followed.

As the other two women left, the saleswoman hesitated, glanced at the remaining two, and then bowed, deeply. "...Thank you, Velvet, really," she said as she straightened from her bow, specifically to Velvet.

She met the hardened woman's eyes genuinely. "I don't really get all this stuff about Seraphim, Hellions, and Malevolence and all that," she admitted softly, "and I'm still not really certain about what I saw that day during the storms. I know there's some confusing rumors out there about what a 'Hellion' is, but..."

She shook her head dismissively. "All I know is that you saved my life, not once, but twice. Because of that, my mother and I have been able to survive, and live on." She bowed again, in parting. "So, thank you. Really. And take care, knowing that there are folks out there rooting for you." With that, she turned and headed off, meeting with Rose and Alisha and resuming an earlier conversation filled with economic and business terms.

Velvet watched the woman leave, a strangely soft expression on her face.

Sorey smiled, then blinked as he noticed another figure approaching the two of them – one seemingly ignored by the humans working in the vicinity. The Lord of the Land, Sindra, came to a halt before the Shepherd and the Lord of Calamity, interlacing her fingers together and falling into a deep bow towards Sorey.

"Shepherd," Sindra greeted sadly, keeping her eyes downturned, "I am afraid I have failed in my duty as Lord of the Land."

"Sindra?" Sorey blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

She held her bow stiffly. "As I mentioned during the previous battle, that woman over there..." she said, gesturing towards the saleswoman, "was one of the many subjects you charged me to protect. I was responsible for hurting her," she admitted, slowly straightening her back before gesturing at Velvet, "in my attempts to attack your... companion. I was foolish and sinful."

Velvet shrugged callously in response. "You did what you thought needed to be done," she pointed out. "Nobody can fault you for that."

"My apologies, hellion," Sindra muttered tersely, "I'm afraid you must forgive me for holding myself up to a higher standard than that of a repulsive being such as yourself."

The therion's eyes narrowed dangerously at the impudent seraph's words.

Suddenly, Sorey let out a mild chuckle, drawing the attention of both of them. He put a hand on his hip. "It's alright Sindra, no harm no foul, right?" He gestured to Velvet with a thumb. "And I don't think I can really blame you – Velvet does tend to give off the wrong first impression."

In response to Velvet's dark glare being turned upon him, he jolted and sheepishly raised an index finger to his cheek. "W-well, I guess maybe those impressions aren't entirely wrong," he allowed.

He shook his head, straightening and giving Sindra an honest nod. "Still, in any case, I would think that if there's one thing I learned during my journey, it would be the truth in something that my Gramps once said." He glanced at the therion standing beside him with a soft smile. "'The world is a vast and complex place,'" he quoted, "'full of places and beings just as varied in traits and behavior. Be guarded, and carry yourself through its hallowed lands with strength, determination, and an open mind.'"

He returned his gaze to Sindra. "...It sounds like you did just that, Sindra," he remarked, gesturing to where she was now. "If that's the case, then I think there's no need for you to be apologize," he finished simply.

Standing next to him, Velvet quietly glanced off to the side.

Studying the two of them carefully in the wake of his words, Sindra considered this a moment before nodding deeply. "...As you say, Shepherd Sorey," she replied reverently. "Truly, you have grown wise through your journey – far wiser than long-lived yet narrow-minded seraphim such as I. I am honored to have been tasked as Lord of the Land in your name."

She tilted her head at him. "May I request that you accompany me to the sanctuary? There is a matter regarding the vessel that I'd like to discuss."

"Sure." Sorey glanced at Velvet, who shook her head.

With a parting nod, the Shepherd joined the Lord of the Land and headed out of the ruined plaza towards the center of the city. Now standing alone amidst the partially marred stones, Velvet took a moment to ponder the words that had been said.

"An open mind, huh...?"

The rapping of tools on wood filled the silence as the surrounding laborers worked. Off to the side, Rose, the saleswoman, and Alisha chattered in a rather heated conversation relating to some financial and legal matters. The sun shone high above, passing behind an errant cloud amidst the brilliant blue sky briefly blanketing the world with a soft passing shadow before returning. She glanced to the side and found the seraph who had been listening silently to the conversations taking place from where he leaned against the dried-up fountain.

Dezel was characteristically silent as always, never too far away from wherever Rose went. She paused for a moment, before choosing to step over towards him. She stopped in front of the dried-up fountain near him, glancing over at where Rose was wildly gesturing in the air to punctuate some point of hers.

She drew her lips into a line. "...In the end," she said without preamble, her words barely audible over the sound of civilization surrounding them, "I did what I set out to do."

The wind seraph had stilled, his face angled towards Rose and the others, his jaw setting firmly at her words. She laid a hand on her hip, glancing off to the side with a distant look. "I sacrificed so much – including many things that weren't mine to sacrifice. I killed the one that had destroyed my life, my family, and myself," she murmured.

"And once it was done..." Her bandaged fist clenched firmly. "I had nothing left."

Dezel's jagged teeth bared in the sunlight. "...You think you can stop me from seeking revenge saying stuff like that?" he growled back with a low voice. "What makes you think I give a damn about what happens to me?"

She shrugged. "You should know what you're setting yourself up for." Her eyes went to Rose, and she could tell Dezel's attention shifting to the merchant as well.

Her expression was pensive. "...In the end," she repeated slowly, "It wasn't my strength of will that saved me. She glanced at Dezel, a disquiet expression on her face. "I had someone there to bring me back."

The banging of tools on wood filled the silence that followed her words. She then gestured over her shoulder at where Sorey had left. "I don't know how all of this will end. Unlike before, I don't have much of a plan at all," she admitted openly.

Steel grinded on cobblestones as she turned on her feet, striding away from the wind seraph with a sweep of raven hair. "But I have learned at thing or two about living without regrets," she said. "That's all."

Dezel watched mutely in the wake of her words as she departed, leaving him standing alone amidst the ruined plaza. A brilliantly sculpted marketplace, horribly marred by the scars of those determined to do what needed to be done.

High up above, the sun disappeared into a patch of clouds, temporarily plunging the world into a soft blanket of shadowed light once more.

---​

Fields of gold crop blanketed patches of earth neatly arranged near the walls of the city, colorfully disrupting the varied wood and stone accents of the city buildings. In the distance, the belfry could be seen towering over the varied multistory structures packed inside the perimeter of the defensive city walls. Even from afar, the damage of the recent storms and conflict could be seen clearly, scars riddling structures in every conceivable variety.

Velvet considered it all from her lone vantage point atop the raised stone park hugging the exterior city wall. High up above, the sun hovered closely near the horizon, slowly transforming the clear blue skies with brilliant paint strokes of orange and gold. Birds and insects rustled about in the park and surrounding crop fields, punctuating a partial silence underlaid with the distant activity of the city.

The sound of approaching footsteps drew her attention.

Mikleo came to a halt behind her in the middle of the empty raised park, the strips of azure cloth on his seraphic clothing trailing his movements. He met her eyes, his fists curled at his sides. An idle breeze drifted by, managing to navigate the network of buildings and structures of Lastonbell to rustle the trees of the park and the patches of crop nearby.

She held his gaze for a moment before turning away, looking forward towards the sight of the city beyond the confines of the park.

"Still hate me for corrupting Sorey, huh?" she supposed aloud, leaning forward while resting her forearms on the rails of the park railing. "Can't blame you. But, I think I've made my intentions clear enough." She shook her head and glanced down at her bandaged hand in front of her, a thoughtful expression showing on her face.

"My dream is to bring about a world in which all beings willing to coexist can thrive... I'm not backing down from that – not for a moment."

She let out a breath, a hint of a wry smile flashing on her expression as she returned her gaze towards the city beyond. "...Maybe you should bring it up with the idiot in question, who finds it in himself to welcome a hellion in his ranks," she shrugged.

Another gust of wind slid through the air above the stone park, causing the dangling bandages on her left arm to sway gently from side to side. As the wind died down and the partial silence of the nearby city bustle resumed, she heard Mikleo step towards her, hesitantly at first. She waited motionlessly as he approached.

Then, she blinked when he walked right up and leaned his back against the railing right beside her, crossing his arms while staring resolutely towards the opposite end of the park.

"I never liked hellions," he said without glancing at her, the rustling of trees and crops accompanying his soft words. "Ever since I was a kid, I heard terrible things about hellions – monsters of malevolence – from the others in Elysia."

He shook his head. "Then, one day, a hellion nearly killed Sorey while we were in the ruins together. It was only because Gramps showed up that he ended up okay." He shifted in his stance, absently adjusting his crossed arms as he glanced up, staring at the brilliant gold and orange sky above.

"...Ever since that day, I think I hated hellions," he admitted. "Loathed them, even. I think I hated anything that might've possibly threatened Sorey – that's probably why he always says I'm 'overcautious.'"

Velvet tilted her head to the side. "...You really care for him."

He gave her a look. "He's the closest thing I've had to family next to Gramps. Of course I care for him," he muttered. He returned his gaze forward, nostalgia coloring his expression. "Growing up with someone like that is... well, something special. I've always wanted to keep things the way that they were back then – the two of us, going through the world together, exploring ruins and embarking on wild adventures."

He let out a breath, shaking his head. "That first dream of his – the one he held when he first set out? Well that was, in part, our dream," he said softly. "And I don't think I liked it when he changed it because of you."

Velvet's lips had drawn into a thin line.

"I took him away from you," she summarized simply, straightening and laying a hand on her hip. "A friend you treasured, twisted by a monster," she said emotionlessly. "You must feel helpless, seeing him fall so willingly right into the palm of my hand. All so that I can use him for my needs - a tool to be disposed of once finished."

At her thorned words, Mikleo did nothing but close his eyes. "...Assumptions and conjectures are little in the way of cold, hard evidence. When you research the past, you have to gather as much information as you can," he said softly.

"You don't make things easy. I'm still not entirely certain whether you're truly the type of person Sorey seems to think you are." His boots squeaked slightly on stone as he straightened as well, turning towards her. "...But I don't think I can deny any longer that a big part of why I hated you is because I hated seeing Sorey change from who he had been."

He shook his head slowly. "Sorey is his own person," he admitted quietly, "and I have no right to try to dictate who he should be. Nor who he chooses to trust."

She blinked in surprise.

Mikleo held her eyes firmly, fierce determination in his stance. "I'm still not entirely convinced of your good intentions," he warned. "You manipulated Sorey and sowed utter chaos in your time. You're a hellion, a killer, and a Lord of Calamity to boot. Not to mention your villain act is convincing as hell."

He shook his head. "...But you were there for Sorey," he sighed in resignation, "especially with this business with the tampered iris gems recently – I don't think there's any harder evidence than that. Plus, with Heldalf's drastic actions, I don't think there's any more room for me to keep hating you on account of my own hangups."

He stepped forward, putting himself within arm's reach of the hellion, and thrust his hand out haughtily.

"S-so, I've decided to trust you, for now!" he declared with a wince, every bit of him apparently revolting against the act of stepping so close to a hellion. "But I'll still be watching!" he added sharply, giving her a half-hearted glare. "Don't think you can get away with any twisted plans under my watch, Velvet."

She stared.

High up above, a flock of pigeons fluttered through the air above the park, diving towards labyrinth of streets and alleyways of the bustling city amidst the golden light of the setting sun. The distant, quiet giggling of a lone couple, escaping the madness of a crumbling world down by the nearby crop fields, filled the silence that followed.

Finally, Velvet shook her head in apparent amusement, crossing her arms while shifting her weight to the side. "Well, that was easy," she remarked conversationally. "Who knew that a Lord of Calamity like me could so easily infiltrate the ranks of the Shepherd?" Her smile was fanged as she glanced his way. "I can't wait to tear you all apart from the inside," she drawled.

Mikleo's eye twitched. "Don't make me regret my decision!" he huffed indignantly.

Finding herself letting out a remarkably genuine laugh, Velvet Crowe shook her head again, as if unable to believe what she was hearing. "...Like I said," she sighed softly with a strange degree of fondness in her eyes.

"You're all idiots."

Her bandaged hand clasped with the water seraph's under the soft illumination of the setting sun.

Across the fields of Lastonbell under the same setting sun, a lone figure stood before a great patch of crops, a semi-transparent amber umbrella resting upon her shoulder. Edna stood motionlessly beside the wooden fence, her distant gaze unfocused upon the patches of crops smeared and burnt from recent lightning storms.

The crackling of dirt and stones announced the presence of a visitor as Sorey stepped up to her, curiosity in his expression as he found the earth seraph standing all by herself in the outskirts of the city.

After a moment, the Shepherd decided to join her without a word, leaning against the wood fence and gazing out towards the semi-destroyed fields. The hammering of tools against wood echoed from the nearby city proper, fighting the sound of the natural breeze idly sifting through the stalks of partially burnt crop all while the two stood there companionably beside each other.

"...Just so you know," he said after a while, bringing his hands together atop the wooden fence, "I haven't forgotten my promise to you, Edna. I will find a way to save Eizen," he said solemnly, turning towards her. "That hasn't, and won't, change."

Edna didn't react immediately to his words, idly spinning the umbrella on her shoulder a quarter rotation before halting it. The light breeze played with her hair and clothing amidst the golden lighting as she stood there, staring out into the distance.

"She's rubbing off on you too much."

Sorey blinked in surprise at her sudden words. "Huh?" He said, having turned back to the crops given her initial silence. "Who, Velvet?"

She turned to the side and faced him with a dry expression. "Don't think we haven't all seen how sad and lost you look when the humans treat you like some sort of a god," she said, rolling the umbrella on her shoulder. "Like some puppy whose tail you'd stepped on."

"Um," Sorey said with a wry chuckle, raising an index finger to his cheek. "I feel like I should be defending myself here."

Edna's umbrella closed with a snap as she brought it around, pointing it directly at him. Her expression was final. "You have enough on your plate as is, Shepherd," she said, using his moniker rather dully. "Kittybeard. Freak storms. Countries collapsing. With all that, why don't you worry about solving the impossible afterwards?"

Sorey laughed in response, shaking his head self-deprecatingly. "I guess you do make a point," he conceded with a smile. "But still," he said seriously, composing himself. "I want to make sure you know. I will save Eizen. I promise." He emphasized his statement by clenching his gloved fist in front of him.

Edna let out a breath in response.

"...Sometimes," she said softly after a pause, "even if the world feels like it's crashing down, you need to know your limits." She turned back towards the fields before them, marred by ugly crisscrossing burn marks all throughout. "Sometimes, you need to accept what is possible... and what isn't."

Sorey's expression had softened. He rested his hands gently on the fence in front of him as he too stared out into the fields alongside her. "I take it... that's how you deal with missing your brother?" he asked gently.

She nodded wordlessly in response.

High up above, beyond the forests and hills surrounding the city of Lastonbell, the setting sun began to slowly dip under the horizon, casting a mosaic of longer and longer shadows all around them. Twilight fell in a subtle transition – orange shifting slowly to purple, then ultimately to black.

In the cold air of the departing sun, Sorey nodded gently. "...Okay," he said quietly. "Thanks, Edna. I'll keep that in mind."

The two of them continued to stand there together, savoring the last vestiges of the fleeting day.

---​

The chirping of crickets sounded from outside, seeping into the interior of the house through the wooden walls. The repetitive, melancholic songs of the insects accompanied Sorey as he stepped through the darkened home, passing the dining area with its counters and tables free of the dishes that the group had used for supper. No moonlight from the cloudy sky outside filtered through the dark diamond paned windows of the hallway as his feet padded on polished wooden boards.

From the doors he passed, he could hear the chatter of the humans and seraphim who had chosen to follow him as they prepared to sleep for the night. He thought he heard Rose and Alisha discussing something in soft tones, as well as Mikleo and Dezel exchanging brief words. He kept walking until he rounded the corner, finding the last room with its door open, letting the soft golden light of multiple candles seep out into the dark hallway beyond.

He found none other than Velvet methodically sliding a damp mop across the floor of her room; a white apron wrapped around her dark clothing. He blinked in surprise.

She noticed and glanced over at him while pushing the head of the mop into a bucket of soiled water. "Sorey. What are you still doing up?" she asked, absently lifting the mop above the water to drain. "You were running all about today – didn't Talfryn say that it would do no one any good if the Shepherd collapsed out of exhaustion?"

"I guess he did, huh?" Sorey rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, stepping out of the shadowed hallway and into the warm candlelight of the partially cleaned room. "But for some reason or another, I just couldn't sleep."

The therion resumed running the mop up and down the uncleaned floorboards as Sorey settled down leaning against a table across the room from her. "Wouldn't be the first time," she remarked dryly as she returned her full attention to her work. "Just don't get in my way. I won't give any guarantees for what'll happen if you do." Her words were tinged with just a hint of amusement.

"Sure." Sorey cocked his head curiously, watching Velvet work in the tranquil candlelight. "But... shouldn't you be resting, too, Velvet?" he asked. "Both of us did a lot today – can't the cleaning wait for tomorrow?"

To his surprise, Velvet let out a rather irritated moan, pausing in her mopping to shake her head. "This house was mostly unscathed during the recent storms, but from the look of things, it hasn't been lived in for some time." She glanced around at the bookshelves and cabinets populating the room with a critical eye. "There're all sorts of things out of place. It's annoying. I'd prefer to get it done now, since we have no idea how long it'll take for the scouts to get back."

Sorey tilted his head just a little bit more to the side, uncertain. "I... see." He shook his head. "Actually, I don't really get it," he admitted. "But I do have to say, it's kinda weird seeing a hellion doing housework," he remarked, gesturing at said hellion presently pushing the mop over a particularly stubborn stain on the floor.

He blinked and jerked his arm up just in time to catch a white blur tossed at his face. Eyes wide in surprise, he lowered his hand and found a bundled-up apron in his hands.

Velvet had a wry smile on her face as she lowered her hand. "You're here," she remarked dryly, "so give me a hand. You're of no use to me just standing around." She punctuated her words by pushing her mop back into the bucket, rinsing the head once more.

Sorey smiled, then slipped the apron on over his blue clothes.

The two worked in companionable silence to the calm serenade of the crickets singing outside. A feather duster in hand, Sorey carefully stripped dust from the tops of the assorted books resting on the bookcases. Meanwhile, Velvet methodically removed the clutter from the shelves, stacking them neatly within the closet. The flames of the candles drifted lazily from side to side, keeping the shadows at bay as the room gradually became cleaner and cleaner.

As the two were putting the finishing touches on the room, Velvet stilled, quietly considering a small, frosted glass vase in her hands. "'Nobody ever stops learning...' huh?" she said softly, examining the vase and her reflection atop its hazy surface.

Sorey blinked, halting in his dusting and turning towards her. "What's that?" he asked curiously.

She tilted the vase, watching her reflection from a different angle. "They're words that you said to me, back in Marlind." She turned her head towards him, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Back then, I didn't believe you. Then..."

With careful movements, she rested the decorative piece atop the cabinet in front of her. After a moment of consideration, she shook her head, turning to face him while meeting his gaze. "In any case," she said, resting a hand on her hip, "I suppose I'm grateful that you helped me. That's all."

Sorey's smile was warm. He set the duster aside and reached behind him, undoing the ties of the apron. "I'm grateful too, Velvet," he agreed, bowing his head to slip the apron off. "Not only did you help me out, but I don't think I'll ever forget the lessons you've given me."

He pressed a fist to his chest, a calm smile on his face. "I'm alive, right? Not a Shepherd in the end, just another living being, doing what I need to do," he said softly.

"Right..." At his words, Velvet glanced absently about the room. Amidst the gentle light of the candles, the now cleaned room gave a cozier sensation – one that invited a person to feel safe and at peace. Her eyes were distant. "I wonder," she murmured softly, "could things have gone like this, back then...?"

Sorey blinked, tilting his head in confusion.

Somewhere in the distance, bell began to toll.

The two of them shared an urgent glance. Together, they dashed out of the room, leaving the cleaning implements where they laid. As they ran out into the hallway, the others burst out of their rooms in similar alarm. Together the Shepherd and his followers rushed into the night towards the source of the noise.

The skies were pitch-black and covered in clouds, hovering ominously overhead as they arrived at the northern gates of Lastonbell. Torches burned brightly from all sides throwing chaotic shadows running alongside knights and volunteers rushing in every which direction carrying supplies and medical equipment. Horses neighed loudly amidst the sea of buzzing activity, the animals sweating heavily from exertion under saddles and riders.

Guided to the front by Platinum Knights, Sorey, Velvet, Rose, and Alisha, accompanied unseen by the seraphim, came to a halt as the last of the horses tromped up, allowing the men crewing the entry to push the gates shut. Sorey stepped up urgently as he recognized the last riders.

"Captain Sergei! Leo!" he called, jogging up to the two as they dismounted from their horses. "Are you all okay?"

The captain of the Platinum Knights glanced sharply at his voice, turning to meet him as he arrived. "Shepherd!" he said urgently, fatigue evident in his voice and stance. After a moment, he collected himself and met Sorey's eyes urgently. "Heldalf has abandoned Rolance."

Sorey slid to a halt on the cobblestones in surprise. "What?!" he breathed uncomprehendingly. "Then, where...?"

His eyes widened.

Velvet exchanged a grim glance with Rose and Alisha. She glanced up at the cloudy skies above, her eyes narrowing. "...Looks like he's making his move," she said darkly.

High up above, storm clouds let out a terrible boom, rattling the stones of the city below as they rolled steadily through the black. Towards Hyland.

 

[CloudFry]

Chapter 29 – Dawn.

Velvet charged heedlessly into the night.

Steel boots clanked harshly against shingles underfoot as she bounded from roof to roof, her figure silhouetted by the full moon with a cascade of raven hair trailing her every move. Her breath came out in short, quick exhales, her eyes unceasingly keen as she scanned her surroundings.

In the sea of buildings before her, patches of smoke rose outward to vanish into the cold night air. In the streets below her, groups of civilians and soldiers scrambled to and from in a near universal panic amidst the shadowed moonlight. The occasional distant boom of energy in the distance spontaneously rattled the cobblestones and walls of the city, driving the city dwellers into even more of a confused frenzy.

She briefly extended her daemon arm and slammed it onto a rooftop below, the momentum propelling her across a major thoroughfare to land atop a stopped waterwheel on the other side. Perching atop the giant mechanism, her eyes narrowed as she spotted activity across from her.

There, in the middle of a street, huddled a group of civilians shakily wielding swords against a pack of lizardmen hellions. The children in the group had huddled tightly against the adults, terror in their eyes. The hellions snarled as they stepped forward, raising their swords and batting the weapons of the parents heedlessly aside. With inhuman deftness, they moved to skewer the civilians.

She didn't give them a chance to do so.

"DEVOUR!"

Her monstrous claw slammed into the leader of the hellions, greedily consuming the malevolence while it struggled helplessly. Without even pausing in devouring the hellion in her grasp, Velvet twisted her body around and used its struggling body as a club to bash away the others with inhuman strength. Blood flew in an explosion of gore as the hellion was consumed, leaving her claw free for more.

She charged, parrying the curved swords of the lizard hellions while thrusting her own into their hides with fierce cries. Her claw consumed hellion after hellion, each disappearing into the appendage with grotesque squelches after the next.

Within moments, she had annihilated the entire squad of scouts.

Catching her breath, she stood up straight. A cool night breeze tinged with the scent of ashes brushed past her as she did, toying with her hair and clothing in a soft symphony of clinking metal. During the battle, the street had been filled with the repetitive sound of metal on metal and of the squelching of her claw devouring victims. Now, it was completely silent.

She glanced at the civilians huddled in the middle of the street, unsurprisingly finding nothing but terror and fear in their expressions.

She waved her hand to the side. "Go on," she said dryly, heedless of their expressions. "The underground ruins are being used as shelters right now – I suggest you go there."

"Y... you," one of the women in the group stammered, pointing directly at her while looking as if she'd seen a ghost. "Y-you're the-!"

"The 'Demon of the Shepherd,' right?" Velvet sighed, shaking her head while callously waving her monstrous arm in the air. "Yeah, yeah."

"You're... really letting us live?" another of the group, an older man, said in disbelief.

"If I wasn't," she said at length, giving the man a look, "would I really be wasting time talking to you right now?" She shook her head. "The city's being invaded," she said curtly. "It wouldn't be wise to linger." She raised an eyebrow questioningly at them. "...That is, unless you want me to devour you too?"

She got a much livelier reaction in response to that. Together, the group of men, women, and children hurriedly gathered up their dropped belongings and started moving down the street together, giving the monstrous woman a wide, wide berth in the process. She shook her head in exasperation is they did, glancing up to the sky as she planned her next move.

"E... Excuse me, uh... l-lady?"

She blinked and looked back down. She found a young boy with his eyes wide and bulging at the sight of her hellion arm, and yet still shuffling up to her nonetheless. She laid her human hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow at him. "What is it?" she asked.

He gulped, glancing back at his group who had stopped to gawk in horror at him before meeting her gaze with effort. "Um... I..." He squeezed his eyes shut. "I-I wanted to thank you again!" he said quickly in a tumbling manner, sharply jerking his body forward and back up again in a jerky bow.

Velvet's eyebrow rose further. "'Again?'"

"Y-yeah!" the spiky-haired boy nodded quickly, seemingly gaining more and more courage the longer the monstrous woman hadn't seen fit to eat him alive. "You saved me and my father from wolves once, when we were traveling to the city." He swallowed, failing briefly in his battle to keep his eyes away from the enormous claw at her side before snapping his eyes resolutely back to her gaze. "Back then... I... I didn't realize you were... well..." The boy coughed awkwardly.

After a moment, Velvet huffed in amusement, managing to finally place the boy in her memories. "There's no need for thanks," she said, a small, wry smile inexplicably forming on her lips. "I was just using you and your father for information."

The boy snapped his gaze up towards her with a surprising degree of ferocity in response. "I don't care about that!" he shook his head sharply. "And I don't care what the big wigs say about you either. I get, yeah?"

He gave her an earnest smile, all hints of fear apparently melting away to his eagerness. "Sometimes, you just need to act scary enough, so that the scary things run away, right?" he quoted reasonably.

Velvet blinked.

Then, she chuckled, shaking her head slowly at the kid's words. "...That's right," she agreed softly. "Though sometimes, that might not actually be necessary."

"You're with that Shepherd guy, right?" the boy continued, starting to bounce up and down repeatedly, apparently completely forgetting about the large claw hanging off the woman's torso. "Is he coming here to save us or something? 'Cuz if so, that's awesome! My dad's been all sorts of worried about everything lately, like, about the war and the food and stuff – it'd be so nice if someone like the Shepherd could come over here and make everything okay."

"He won't be the answer to all your problems," Velvet replied dryly, shifting on her feet. "There'll always be hungry wolves out there, you know."

The boy seemed slightly deflated for a moment, before realizing something. "That's fine, we'll definitely be okay!" he exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. "'Cuz you taught us how to deal with them, didn't you, lady?"

"...Guess so," Velvet huffed, briefly glancing up at the rest of the group of civilians who were watching the exchange with increasingly befuddled expressions. The older man who had spoken to her earlier met her gaze with a tilted brow. She shrugged wordlessly in response.

"So then," the boy said, drawing her attention again. "If you're here, lady," he said, pointing to her, "then where is Shepherd Sorey?"

Just then, a brilliant flare of artificial red light flashed out into the night in the skies above the city, rising in a curved arc before falling slowly back down towards a section of the city. Velvet and the rest of the civilians watched the unnatural light drifting slowly back down, burning strangely amidst the starry skies.

Velvet pointed a human finger towards the falling light. "He's right there," she said dryly.

And right on cue, a terrifying roar echoed out above the city of Ladylake, thrumming outwards across the surrounding waters in all directions. The foreboding sound of enormous wings beating against the wind in erratic pumps drew closer and closer as the world stood frozen in the wake of the initial roar.

FWOOSH!

A brilliant flare blotted out the night sky above as an enormous column of fire erupted from the heavens upon where the red light hovered. A fully-grown dragon dove through the skies above, its maw gaping open and dousing the area with white-hot flames. Its wings beat powerfully as it skimmed the top of buildings at the lowest point of its dive, its belly brushing against the fires that its breath had set alight.

It swooped up, briefly regaining some altitude, before banking to the left, inadvertently giving them a clear glimpse of a lone figure clad in brilliant white clothing accented with traces of azure standing up on the back of its neck.

The Shepherd Sorey, riding upon the back of a hellion of legend, let out a fierce cry as he fired a barrage of arrows upon those below.

Beams of pure blue energy tore through the night sky in brilliant streaks of light, crashing with point-blank accuracy upon select targets below. The dragon continued to bank in a steady orbit amidst the night sky, enabling the barrage to encompass all angles in the area. Devastation reigned in the wake of their combined might.

"That.... that's so freaking awesome!"

To Velvet's amusement, the kid at her side began to cheer and whoop as the Shepherd continued bombarding the area from atop Eizen. "Go, Shepherd Sorey!" he crowed.

Watching as the dragon banked its body for another run, she put a hand on her hip. "Looks like they finally found the main forces," she said, stepping back as the world briefly became aglow in the light of flames again. She glanced down at the kid. "Be careful," she said. "It'll be a bit longer before hungry wolves can be your only problem again."

"Okay!" the boy replied brightly, fierce determination forming on his expression. "Thank you for everything, lady. I'll be rooting for you and the Shepherd, with everything that I have!" He bowed once more, this time with far more grace than his initial one. "Goodbye!" With that, he hurried on over back to the group that he had been with, waving off their half-hearted scolding.

As they set off again at an urgent pace towards the underground shelters, the boy turned around and gave Velvet one last enthusiastic wave before following suit. She watched them leave with a thoughtful expression.

There had been a time, she recalled absently, when things had been different. Once, she had been a stray wolf, strutting freely amongst a flock of clueless sheep. An intruder, in every respect of the word.

It was strange how long ago that seemed.

Shaking her head, she glanced back up at the sky as Eizen and Sorey banked around for another dive upon Heldalf's forces pushing into Ladylake. With the help of her daemon claw, she pushed off the street and flew high into the sky, gracefully alighting on the rooftops above.

Without any more hesitation, the former Lord of Calamity pushed forward into a run, charging heedlessly towards the future.

---​

The sound of Eizen's roars echoed loudly into the night sky beyond the glass windows as the group of intruders tore into Rountabel Palace. The entirety of Ladylake sprawled outward from the tall vantage point of the upper floors, visibly marred with patches of soot, grime, and flame. Flashes of brilliant orange occasionally lit up the starry skies outside, accompanied by fierce detonations of mana that caused the foundations of the grand palace to tremble.

Every turn they took, signs of battle lay strewn across the bloodied carpets.

Sorey glanced briefly over his shoulder as he ran. Velvet, Rose, and Alisha ran by his side. Lailah, Mikleo, Edna, and Dezel followed swiftly behind.

"Do you think Sergei and the others will be okay?" he asked, briefly interrupting his rhythmic breathing. His voice echoed off the surrounding walls as they continued to run together through the vaulted corridors.

"They've got Eizen kicking butt for them out there," Rose replied easily, briefly coming to a halt in front of a large doorway and checking inside before beckoning them through. "I'd be more worried for the sake of Heldalf's sea of goons than anything else."

"However, we have yet to see hide nor hair of Heldalf himself," Lailah said, her long hair slinging behind her as she started running again, "despite having confronted the bulk of his invading army. That is... worrisome."

Dezel grunted, his boots slamming into carpet underfoot. "I'd say count your blessings while you can," he said darkly. "If Maotelus gets thrown into the mix, that dragon out there won't stand a chance."

"Guess we should all give up then," Edna supposed, her closed umbrella trailing after her in her loose grip. "All hail Lord Kittybeard, ruler of the world."

Mikleo chuckled, glancing to the side at Dezel. "We managed to make it through Marlind with the help of Edna's brother," he pointed out reasonably. "I wouldn't count us out yet."

The wind seraph's teeth bared in the light of the flickering candles lining the walls of the corridor. "The hell kind of a group is this?" he growled lowly.

Velvet gave him a look over her shoulder. "It's a little late to be realizing how stupid their plans are, don't you think?" she asked dryly. She returned her gaze forward callously. "You're either willing to do what needs to be done or you're not. I suggest you figure it out."

"Don't you lecture me about that!" Dezel snapped back.

"Poor, indecisive Dezel," Edna said sympathetically, an indulgent smile on her face. "Be careful, you might die of old age before getting anything done if you keep being afraid. Old man Dezel. Oldezel."

A wordless growl of indignation followed.

Mikleo had a wry look on his face. "Guess you should think twice before doubting Edna's brother," he supposed. He shook his head, returning his eyes forward as he ran. "Still, it really is worrying. Why wouldn't Heldalf be at the head of his own army when invading Hyland?"

"We'll find out, one way or another," Sorey said resolutely, his white cloak flapping behind him. "Alisha, are we getting close to the safe room?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

The princess nodded; her features carved in determination. "The chancellors should have evacuated there the moment word of the invasion came," she said, her lance gripped tightly in her hand. "Yet, these bodies..."

Her eyes were sad as the group ran past even more signs of battle – slaughtered Hyland guards lying lifelessly in pools of blood in the corridors of the Rountabel Palace. She shook her head, focusing her thoughts away from her slain countrymen. "...I fear we may be too late," she said urgently. "We must hurry!"

"This much effort to save those sleazebags, huh?" Rose said, shaking her head. "I swear, they'd better take those prices off our heads when we do."

"I understand how it might seem distasteful," Alisha allowed, briefly glancing to the side and out the windows of the corridor as another distant flash of orange lit the skies. "Yet be that as it may, those chancellors are truly the leaders that keep the kingdom together. That is why I asked that you did not kill them, back then."

"Yeah, yeah," Rose sighed, briefly leaping over a fallen shield lying on the floor with agile grace. "Lesser evils and all that, huh?"

Together, the group charged further and further onward, deeper into the palace.

Another series of bursts of distant flame from outside rhythmically illuminated the final corridor as they came to a ragged halt, weapons held warily at the ready. A single, heavy door made of thick metal laid at the end of the corridor, its surface emblazoned with the symbol of the Hyland royal family.

It was hanging slightly ajar.

Exchanging wary looks, the Shepherd's group stepped forward, their figures silhouetted by the windows on either side of the corridor. Sorey's sword was perfectly steady as he approached the safe room, his eyes narrowed. With his offhand, he reached forward carefully and, after a moment, yanked the metal door open.

The smell of blood and gore washed over him in a putrid wave. He winced, then narrowed his eyes as the scene within.

A single figure stood in the middle of the safe room; her clothing soaked in patches of blood. The bodies of all the chancellors of Hyland laid in various parts of the room, their expressions frozen in the terror of their final moments. The lone intruder turned slowly to face the Shepherd and his group, putting her back to the massacre that she'd committed.

Maltran, the acting military advisor to the Holy Kingdom of Hyland, stood in a calm straight-backed posture amidst the dead silent room, seemingly unsurprised to find Sorey and the others at the entrance.

"Ah, you're here," she said calmly, flicking some blood off her metal gauntlets before sweeping a few stray strands of magenta hair to the side. "Good. I was getting tired of waiting."

Alisha's eyes bulged in shock and horror. "M-Master?!" she gasped.

"Maltran." Sorey stepped forward, his eyes hard. "Why?" he asked quietly.

"Why?" Maltran seemed amused by the question, letting her armored hand fall to her side. She gave Sorey a disdainful look. "It is a simple matter. In war, you do not merely beat back your enemies so they can come and fight you another day." She gestured towards the grizzly sight behind her, a callous expression on her face. "You crush them, wholly and completely."

"Who are your enemies, then?" Rose asked, glancing around at the bodies of the dead chancellors before meeting Maltran's gaze. "I don't get it. Why did Heldalf kill the emperor of Rolance just to abandon the throne? Why'd he then put you up to this?" She gave the hellion an inquisitive look.

"You appear to be confused," the advisor said with a vindictive laugh, metal clinking as she crossed her gauntleted arms before her corset. "The lowly foot soldier asks not why this, or who that," she said deliberately, her eyes cold. "The soldier only does as they are told, for the sake of the future they believe in."

"And do you?"

Alisha's voice trembled with emotion, yet her eyes were firm and determined as she stepped forward, facing her former master. "Do you truly believe in his future, Maltran?" she asked, her gauntleted hands curled into fists. "The 'beauty and grace of a world imbued with nothing but pure, raw malevolence.' Such nonsense!"

"And what do you offer in its stead, pathetic princess?" her master replied derisively, repeatedly tapping her index finger upon her arm. "A world of nothing but purity? An all-encompassing utopia wherein malevolence is stamped out and painted over with a sheen of white? Don't make me laugh!"

She thrust her arm out behind her, towards the bodies of the chancellors. "I told you, did I not? Humanity will always fail you – It is their very nature!" She curled her armed hand into a fist with the subtle squealing of leather and metal. "To try and purify hellions... to forcibly erase the most base and innate desires of mankind is the greatest of sins itself."

Maltran met Sorey's gaze, loathing and hatred in her eyes. "...I revile high and mighty types like you," she seethed lowly, every word dripping in spite. "Who try to ignore the realities of this world – what depravities people are truly capable of. That is my answer for why, 'Holy Shepherd Sorey,'" she spat mockingly.

At Sorey's side, Velvet watched Maltran, her lips drawn into a thin line.

"...I believe that is enough," Maltran stated, lowering a hand and reaching into a pouch strapped onto the side of her arm. "Let us finish this now, as is proper." A brilliant, tainted glow shone outward from the gem that she withdrew.

Rose blinked in shock. "Wait, that's-!"

A blinding flash of indistinct colors suddenly exploded outward, the group stumbling backwards recoiling from the enormous wave of energy that accompanied it. An almighty tremor shook the walls of the palace, rattling the windows at a frenzied pace. When the light and the shaking subsided, Sorey and the others found the safe room completely empty.

Outside, the world began to rumble.

Exchanging looks, the group quickly fell into motion, charging out the opposite end of the corridor. Alisha threw a regretful glance over her shoulder at the bodies of the slain chancellors lying in the room before following suit.

A dreadfully icy chill wind washed over them as they emerged outside, coming to a halt atop a large balcony on the very upper floors of the enormous palace.

Alisha put a hand to her mouth in horror.

Above, heavy, foreboding clouds had begun to gather at unnatural speeds, coalescing into dark masses that blotted out the light of the distant rising sun and plunging the world back into darkness. Down by the shorelines of the city, the waters had begun to recede drastically, leaving behind the sodden lakebed lying naked and exposed for the first time in centuries.

Thunder boomed loudly as the heavens suddenly opened, unleashing a cascade of water falling unceasingly onto the city underneath. The winds began to grow even stronger, whipping the falling rain in contradicting directions.

There, in the center of the growing maelstrom, held aloft by a pair of deep violet wings pulsating in malevolence, was Maltran. Her magenta hair and royal formal wear whirled wildly in the forces of the developing storm. A glowing iris gem shone brightly with a corrupted purple hue, embedded directly into her chest.

She beckoned them, a cold smile on her face.

Alisha grit her teeth.

As thunder boomed and torrential rain crashed down upon her, the princess of Hyland curled her armored hands into fists and glared up at her former master, resolutely. "I will not stand for this," she said determinedly, her voice almost lost amidst the horrible winds. "If this is truly what you believe, Master, then I shall show you the strength of my determination against such words!"

Her lance cut through the rain as she raised it against the hellion hovering in the storm, ferocity in her eyes. "The strength of a knight that which you have forgotten!" she cried.

"Let's go, guys!" Sorey yelled, wrenching his sword out of its sheath.

Brilliant flashes of color rivaled the bursts of rapid lightning as the Sorey, Alisha, and Rose armatized in sync before bursting into motion.

Her body illuminated with the neon green of wind, Alisha took to the skies in a fierce burst of speed, streaking directly towards her master. Rose appeared in a flash of blue and white, raising a bow of azure and taking aim from the cover of the palace walls. Sorey, his body alight with crimson, bounded to the edge of the balcony and thrust out his hand. A blinding red glow shot out from his palm, its light shooting out brightly into the downpour. Within moments, a distant roar answered his signal.

Amidst the chaotic maelstrom engulfing the city of Ladylake, the Shepherd and his followers fought.

Alisha and Maltran exchanged blows in the skies above the capital, steel crashing against steel as their lances slid off each other amidst the whirling rain. They buzzed around each other like a pair of angry hornets, one leaving a jagged trail of brilliant neon green, the other leaving one of putrid violet. Their expressions were locked in fierce determination, barely visible amidst the dark and thunderous storm.

Brilliant blue streaks of light shot outward from the top of the palace standing against the downpour, harrying the hellion with careful precision shots and forcing her to take evasive action rather than attack Alisha relentlessly.

Maltran grinned viciously as she spun around in a twisting loop, avoiding the thrust of Alisha's spear while retaliating with a swing of her own while upside down. She followed through smoothly when the princess dove down into the air to avoid the attack, chasing after the armatized squire relentlessly.

The hurricane-level winds screamed in their ears as they dove and exchanged further blows, punctuated by successive booms of thunder as the maelstrom grew even more frantic all around them. Their battle cries were drowned out entirely by the horrible storm engulfing the entirety of Lake Perniya. As they neared the ground, unnatural waves of enormous height smashed into the sides of Ladylake with incredible force, water decimating nearby buildings and flooding the streets entirely.

Before she could crash into the flooded streets, Alisha twisted her body in her dive and flew upward, simultaneously jerking her finger towards the pursuing Maltran with her off hand. In response, a pair of jagged neon green wings separated from her back and flung towards the hellion with furious speed. The corrupted hellion batted them away smartly with her spear, but then was forced to dive to the side as an azure beam of energy blasted through the air where she'd been. Despite it all, her indulgent grin remained on her face as she lunged upward for Alisha once more, who was hard-pressed to withstand her rain of blows.

Suddenly, a blinding streak of crimson sliced through the torrential rain, barely managing to clip Maltran on the side as she tried to avoid it. She winced, her malevolent wings keeping her aloft as she righted herself, finding the Shepherd landing on a nearby rooftop from his fall. She snapped her head upward to where he had leapt from.

She was then met with the sight of an enormous set of fangs as a fully grown dragon tore through the darkened skies towards her, maw wide open. She gritted her teeth and willed a burst of speed into her flight, shooting off and away from Alisha as a fierce gout of flame seared through the rain towards her.

As the dragon shot past her, a lone figure leapt down from its back, a red streak tearing down from over its shoulder.

Metal squealed loudly amidst the storm as Velvet's claw met Maltran's spear.

They met each other's eyes as Velvet's momentum pushed Maltran forcibly towards the ground below. The advisor gritted her teeth in fury. "You..." she growled, barely audible in the storm and the screaming winds as they fell. "I believe shall ask you once more...!"

With a flash of malevolence, Maltran's wings redirected their momentum upward, curving high up and into the sky. Storm clouds enveloped the two of them entirely, deafening booms of thunder sounding from all directions.

Velvet's eyes were narrowed harshly as she gripped Maltran's spear off to the side, using her human hand to hold Maltran's other arm in a preventive lock.

"Why?!" Maltran demanded again, her hair slinging wildly as they tilted into another dive, plunging through the storm clouds with reckless abandon. "You failed to answer me the first time I asked! Do you truly believe in that child's foolish dream? Do you truly believe in such lies?!"

The clouds abruptly vanished all around them as they fell out from beneath and into the torrential rain once more. The entirety of Ladylake sprawled out underneath them amidst the raging gales, approaching rapidly as they hurtled back down to earth.

"Humans and seraphim will never be able to coexist with hellions!" Maltran snarled, her face contorted with effort as she and Velvet struggled. "The very nature of the Shepherd – the power of purification – is an antithesis to the existence of all hellions such as yourself! Why then do you insist on allowing yourself to be led by the nose by that boy?!"

Velvet gritted her teeth.

The two hurled into a corkscrew as the enormous form of Eizen shot past them through the murky storm, a great gust of turbulent wind buffeting the two in its wake. As the world spun around and around the two, Maltran fixated her entire attention on the therion grasping her. "I will ask again, Velvet Crowe!" she yelled, her eyes bulging in frustration. "Why do you follow Shepherd Sorey?!"

CRASH!

An enormous plume of dirt and debris exploded outwards as they slammed into the ground together. Trees already uprooted by the raging waves tumbled madly away from the impact, sending sodden branches and leaves flying into the storm. Their landing drew a deep gouge into the dirt, scattering specks of sodden grass onto the stone walkways nearby.

The rain continued to fall as the dust began to settle, leaving behind two figures in the cratered remains of the waterside park.

A steel boot clanked as it stomped into the mud. Her hair sodden by rain and her body soiled with dirt and debris, Velvet Crowe stood shakily before the fallen form of Maltran, who was breathing raggedly. The corrupted iris gem, having been dislodged from the hellion's body, lay on the ground before the advisor, who had taken the brunt of the fall.

Beyond the stone ledge of the waterside park, the lake waters continued to recede – a precursor for yet another wave of devastating tsunamis. Fierce hurricane-level gales continued to scream all round them, the nearby stone walls of the park providing little to no protection against their wrath.

"Why...?" Velvet's voice, tired, yet firm, rang out over the howl of the winds. She glanced around at the remains of the devastated park. "Honestly? I don't really know."

Her face filled with exhaustion, Maltran glanced up at her from where she laid. "You... don't know?" she repeated slowly, disbelievingly.

With slow, reverent movements, Velvet reached behind her and pulled out two pieces of a broken amber comb in the palm of her bandaged hand. The howling wind seemed to die down in her mind as she focused entirely on the broken item and what it represented for her. Her eyes had grown soft.

"I still hate myself," she admitted softly. "I loathe the monster that I am."

Her eyes turned upward, towards the stormy skies above Ladylake as the rain continued to fall. "You don't just forget about the sins you've committed after enough time has passed. They stick with you, hounding you, embedded in your very being," she said contemplatively. "When I betrayed the Shepherd and fought him, I knew that I wanted to die. I wanted a death fitting for a selfish person like me."

Velvet's gaze fell and met Maltran's – the hellion who was so much like her. "...But in this world, nothing is set in stone. The roles we play in this life are up to nobody else but ourselves," she said softly.

"That's the reason why, even if I don't know why, I'm here now." She shrugged, rain pattering off the broken comb in her hand. "I'm trying something new. That's all."

In the distance, the roar of a dragon echoed out above the city, the beating of large wings approaching closer and closer towards the park. Thunder continued to rumble overhead, the harsh downpour drowning the city under an endless deluge. As the Shepherd and his followers arrived atop the dragon and bounded off the beast's back, Maltran began to laugh softly.

"To think..." the hellionized advisor muttered, her lips upturning in a sardonic smile, "I would be brought down by such laughable sentiment."

Maltran glanced up as the Shepherd came to Velvet's side and met the therion's eyes with a strange degree of respect. "...Go on," she said quietly, gesturing to the corrupted iris gem lying at their feet.

Sorey met Velvet's gaze. She nodded in return.

Together, the two of them stepped up to the purple-hued gem as the storm continued to rage around them, progressively consuming the capital of Hyland. They then disappeared in a flash of silver flames.

---​

Sorey blinked in surprise as his vision cleared.

He found himself standing in what appeared to be a snowy landscape of jagged cliffs and mountains. High up in the sky, the stars twinkled brightly amidst a cool night sky, watching him amidst the frigid cold. A breeze brushed past him causing his cloak to rustle, guided by the rough landscape with a trace of frozen moisture. There was not a single hint of malevolence to be found.

"That's weird," Sorey said, his brow furrowing. "The other gems were filled with Maotelus's malevolence, but this one..." he trailed off in alarm as he realized that Velvet, who had entered the gem with him, was nowhere to be found.

He was alone.

Gathering his wits, the Shepherd surveyed his surroundings carefully and chose a direction to set off in, wary of any possible danger. The sound of scrunching snow and the whistling of the frigid wind was the only sound as he trudged through the dark night by himself. Only the faintest traces of life could be seen growing from cracks and crevices of rock sheltered by snow – flowers growing in stark defiance of the cold.

After trudging through the snowy fields for a time, he came across a strange-looking door embedded into one of the walls of the mountain itself.

Despite his love for ruins buzzing in the back of his mind, he focused on the task at hand and trudged up to the door. It opened on well-oiled hinges with a metallic clank to reveal a frozen tunnel within, illuminated by lit torches mounted into the walls. Shivering slightly, Sorey stepped inside, careful to keep an eye out for any signs of life.

His boots crunched nosily on ice and snow as he emerged out the tunnel on the other side, his eyes widening at the sight that awaited him beyond.

A harbor stood frozen in the cold, metal railings and posts jutting out from the snow, frozen over with icicles. Buildings dotted the area enclosed by sharp cliff faces, their doors and windows shut tightly against the wind. Lit streetlamps glowed warmly in the night, dotting the area in an eager fight against the encroaching shadows. In the brilliant turquoise waters beyond the harbor, the jagged form of frozen shipwrecks could be seen, jutting out from patches of ice like the skeletons of massive ancient beasts.

A small figure stood at the end of the lone pier, waiting for him.

Sorey blinked in surprise. After a moment, he let his hand fall from the pommel of his sword and stepped forward into the snow. His boots thumped on creaking wood as he stepped onto the wide pier, the figure watching him calmly and patiently as he approached.

Under the shimmering light of a brilliant aurora illuminating the night sky above, Sorey stopped before the young boy with blonde hair, a curious expression on his face.

The boy nodded in response to his unspoken question. "Hello, Sorey," he greeted. His voice had a bright and youthful tone, yet his demeanor bespoke care and reservation. "I'm glad to have this chance to speak with you."

Sorey frowned, taking a closer look at the boy. A large metal band rested on his shoulders around his neck, a yellow jewel dangling from its center. He wore a white cloak adorned with blue colors. His green eyes were calm, his expression collected.

And a telltale hint of malevolence seeped from his body, evaporating into the air around him.

Sorey met the boy's eyes again. "You're Maotelus, aren't you?" he asked softly. "Heldalf mentioned these gems are linked to you."

"That's right," the boy confirmed, habitually reaching with his hand to hold his other arm. "Heldalf... is distracted, right now," he said, glancing up towards the starry sky. The shimmering aurora reflected subtly in his calm eyes. "There are times, when he isn't focused on me, that my consciousness clears somewhat. That is why, right now, I can reach you through the Earthen Historia."

The trails of malevolence continued to hover innocuously around his form, draping his pure white colors with tainted violet.

"We'll take him down, Maotelus," Sorey said solemnly, holding a fist out before him resolutely. "Me and everyone else, including Velvet – we're all here to save you from him. I promise."

At the sound of Velvet's name, Maotelus had taken on a distant look in his eyes. He turned and stepped to the side, facing outward towards the frozen ships and the darkened horizon beyond. After a moment, he tilted his head upwards towards the aurora above, a contemplative air about himself.

"I have to ask, Shepherd Sorey." His words were accompanied by puffs of mist in the snowy air. "Do you know why it is that birds fly?"

The familiar words rang in Sorey's ears. He paused, thinking for a moment under the shifting reflections of the aurora, before stepping forward. The frigid wood creaked under his boots as he came to a halt beside Maotelus, also staring up towards the skies. The two of them stood amidst the cold, watching as strange waves of motion ebbed and flowed over the ribbons of light above.

"I think it's not up to me to say," Sorey said finally, the shimmering curtains of colors reflected in his eyes.

The trials he had undergone through his journey – all the things he had seen and experienced – flashed in his mind in an instant. He nodded to himself after a moment, a calm and resolute determination steeling his voice.

"I believe all beings in this world have the choice to choose their paths." He shook his head. "Why they choose to act the way they do... their reasons are something that only they know," he said softly. "That's what I think."

By his side, Maotelus smiled gently. "...I see," the boy said, bobbing his head in understanding. "So that's your answer."

Together, they stood there at the end of the pier, quietly watching the brilliant aurora above as it slid its way up and down the starry night sky.

After a moment, Maotelus spoke once more. "I'm glad that you helped Velvet," he said, a wistful smile on his face. "I couldn't do anything else but watch helplessly through the Earthen Historia, but you found it in yourself to lend her a hand. One that she desperately needed. Thank you."

Sorey shook his head. "Actually," he replied with a soft smile, "I think you might be underestimating her."

Maotelus tilted his head boyishly at him. "How so?"

The Shepherd crossed his arms with a shrug. "Just a hunch," he replied with a chuckle. "She has a pretty scary side, to be sure, and I'm sure a big part of her felt like she needed to atone for stuff she's done, but..." He shook his head, briefly unable to find how to describe his thoughts. "I... just got the sense that there's more to it than that, you know?"

To his surprise, Maotelus burst into a fit of soft boyish laughter in response. "Haha, yeah, I could never truly figure her out either," he admitted with a nostalgic smile.

Sorey tilted his head to the side. "Do you know where she is right now?" he asked. "I came into the iris gem with her but..."

The boy nodded his head in understanding. "I'm sorry," he said. "I wanted to speak with you alone first, so I separated you guys. We can go see her now." With that, he lifted his left hand and concentrated.

Sorey watched as the world around them began to wobble, the subject memory of the iris gem shifting and dissolving until it reformed into another from a different time.

In this memory, he found them now surrounded by thin, tall trees decorated with vibrant yellow and orange autumn leaves. A gentle breeze blew through the area, rustling his clothing while simultaneously playing with a wind chime dangling from the roof of a nearby wooden house.

There, in the front of the door to the home, stood Velvet clad in simple maroon clothing, her hair short and tied up into a ponytail. She was grinning brightly as she patted the head of someone standing beside her – a small boy, around the same height as Maotelus, ducking haughtily away from her hand.

After a moment, she noticed the two of them standing there, her eyes widening slightly.

Then, she turned and shooed the young boy back inside before stepping out to greet them in the tranquil yard in front of the house. Leaves fell softly, pattering onto the ground in a gentle rain of color as she came to a halt in front of them.

She sighed, putting a hand on her hip with all the mannerisms that Sorey was familiar with, heedless of her dramatically different appearance.

"I figured you were responsible for this," she said, aiming her words directly at Maotelus. She tossed a hand carelessly into the air. "What good does it do anyone to dredge up useless old memories like this, especially with what's going on?"

Maotelus had a coy smile on his face. "I just thought that Sorey here would be interested in seeing this side of you, Velvet," he replied, shrugging his shoulders innocently. "That's all."

"Uh huh," Velvet replied dryly. "I can see you're still the same little brat that you were back then." Contrary her words, emotion had begun to appear in her eyes as she took in the sight of boy standing before her.

Maotelus smiled back up at her warmly.

After a moment had passed, they both moved simultaneously towards each other. Velvet kneeled and embraced the boy tightly, a warm and unsteady breath escaping her as she did so. "We'll save you," she said softly, holding Maotelus tightly. "I promise, Phi."

"I'm glad," Maotelus replied, his eyes closed as he held the therion in turn.

After a moment, he gently separated from Velvet, who let him go and stood back up. He glanced at both Velvet and Sorey in turn, a serious expression on his face. "But I should tell you now," he said meaningfully, "Heldalf may not be the sort of person that you think he is."

With a shake of her head, Velvet muttered, "Always the softie. Leave it to you to say something like that about the person who took you hostage."

Maotelus shook his head, a hint of a smile appearing on his lips. "Wouldn't be the first time," he pointed out impishly.

Velvet blinked. Then irritation showed in her face. "You little..." she grumbled.

Sorey, who had been watching the interaction between the two, smiled gently. He stayed silent, content to simply observe a side to his friend that he had previously only ever seen sporadic hints of.

The world suddenly wavered yet again as Maotelus closed his eyes in concentration. All around them, the autumn colors of the strange, ancient village began to swirl away, replaced with brilliant hues of muted green and blue in the light of a blooming sunrise. Sorey glanced around curiously, finding himself in now-familiar terrain.

The city of Ladylake perched atop Lake Perniya below the cliffs upon which they stood. Rolling hills and lush forests splayed out from their vantage point up in the Lakehaven Heights, filled with varied patches of trees and rough cliffsides. The sun was beginning to rise in the distance across the lake, basking the world in the crisp newborn light of a new day.

In the light of dawn, Maotelus stepped forward towards the edge of the cliff, grass scrunching softly under his small boots. There, both he and Velvet, who had returned to her normal appearance, looked out into this new world together, a gentle breeze ruffling their clothing and hair.

The light of the rising sun glinted in Maotelus's eyes as he looked outward, thoughtful. "It's all... very different, now, isn't it?" he asked gently.

Velvet exhaled softly, looking out beyond the cliff with her arms hanging by her sides. Memories from long ago erupted all at once. Faces, once blurry from misuse, suddenly materialized in her mind as clear as day. Fragments of a time long past, indistinct in form yet sharp in hue, made up a mosaic of emotion that tinted her every thought.

Yet she found small smile forming on her lips.

"I think it's a little silly," she admitted, the wind playing with her long raven hair. She glanced at Maotelus, her smile widening as she contemplated this strange, new, and foreign world. "But... I find myself wanting to move forward, now," she said softly.

Maotelus shook his head. "I don't think it's silly," he replied brightly. "I'm glad."

He glanced over his shoulder at Sorey, standing at a distance and allowing the two to share a moment together, before meeting Velvet's eyes again with a kind expression. "I really am," he promised.

In the distance, a slow, purple haze began to creep into existence, forming around the corners of the memory and seeping in to taint the environment. Gradually, tendrils of malevolence began to slide closer and closer, slowly blotting out the brilliant light of the rising sun behind a tint of violet.

Maotelus turned to the two of them as Sorey stepped up, a somber expression on his face. "It's time to say goodbye for now, Velvet, Sorey," he said gently, taking a step back away from them as the sea of malevolence began to return. "I'm looking forward to seeing you both again."

Velvet's eyes were hard, yet she made no effort to stop him. Instead, she nodded curtly, a reaffirmed determination clear in her stance.

"Goodbye, Phi," she said tenderly. "We'll see you soon."

With a final nod in response, the fifth Empyrean closed his eyes and began to fade away, his form retreating from the memory itself. In the wake of his departure, a dull thrum echoed throughout the surrounding world, marking the collapse of the corrupted gem. Colors slowly began to swirl together, meshing into nothingness. A dull white began to overtake everything, halting the encroaching malevolence in its tracks.

Velvet and Sorey met each other's gazes and nodded resolutely in the wake of their interaction with Maotelus. Then, together, the former Lord of Calamity and the Holy Shepherd turned and faced the approaching dawn rising amidst a curious mix of light and malevolence.

Despite herself, Velvet found that she herself was content.

Regardless of the trails that they were sure to face soon, there were no lingering doubts in her mind anymore. No more questions regarding what needed to be done. No more gaping wounds that needed to be ignored.

She felt no need to expel malevolence anymore.

 

[CloudFry]

Epilogue.

Sorey wondered how in the world things had ended up this way.

He shook his head in pure disbelief, trying his best to rack his brain and connect the dots as to how it had gotten to this point. Yet regardless, no matter how much his mind reassured him that this was, in fact, real, and not some sort of twisted dream, he found that he couldn't quite bring himself to believe it. It just didn't make any sense at all.

"If you just keep standing there like that," came Velvet's dry voice from behind him, "you're likely going to keel over in shock."

Blinking, Sorey turned from the full body-length mirror to find the therion standing at the door to his room, an amused expression on her face. It took him a second to recognize her – she was dressed in a flowing, dark crimson dress with black accents that perfectly accompanied her neatly combed raven hair hanging behind her.

She interpreted his look correctly with a roll of her eyes. "Look," she said at length, waving a hand wrapped in a smooth silk glove, "I'm not exactly comfortable about all this either, okay?" she sighed. "Blame Sergei and Alisha for their scheming if you'd like."

"Ahah," Sorey chuckled sheepishly, scratching at his cheek with an index finger. "Sorry. I just think this is all a little bit nuts."

Velvet's heels clicked on the polished marble flooring as she walked into the room with a slight awkwardness about her steps, her dress and hair flowing behind her as she did so. "Things are different now," she said as she carefully crossed over to where he was standing, disdainfully glancing at herself in the mirror that he'd been using. "Nowadays things are less about fighting hellions and more about keeping humans from fighting each other."

"I'm not sure I really signed up for that, you know," Sorey remarked wryly, absently fiddling with his collar. "It's a lot to take in." He frowned in irritation. "And are these clothes really necessary?" he grumbled as his collar failed to succumb to his demands.

An exasperated, familiar voice came through the open doorway. "We've been through this like, a dozen times already, Sorey."

The two of them looked over to find Alisha and Rose entering the room as well and walking towards them, both dressed in brilliantly accented dresses befitting the squires of the Shepherd. Unlike Velvet and Sorey, they seemed perfectly at ease in their clothing.

Rose, the one who had spoken, placed her gloved hands on her hips and frowned at Sorey. "If you really want to do this properly, then you've gotta do this right!" She chopped her hand into the palm of her other for emphasis. "Nobody in their right mind's gonna take you seriously if you show up wearing that dusty old cloak to the ceremony."

"It's a cultural relic from tradition!" Sorey protest unhappily. "Besides, I'm only doing this temporarily – people should understand that, right? So, there's really no need for all..." he gestured weakly at the immaculate clothing he was wearing.

Alisha shook her head sympathetically, although traces of amusement were evident in her expression. "Royal clothing is a symbol of power, Sorey," she said placatingly. "For the people, it sends a message of dedication – one could call it a necessary symbol to preserve the peace. I understand this is all very uncomfortable for you, but I promise you, it shall be worthwhile."

The Shepherd wilted a little at her words, his hands slowing in his attempts to right his collar. "Yeah," he said in resignation. "Alright." With his surrender, he returned to his efforts to right his clothing with a renewed fervor.

Velvet's eye twitched.

"That's enough," she growled dangerously, stepping up to him and irritably batting away his hands. "Stay still, unless you want me to eat you."

"A-Ah, sure," Sorey chuckled nervously, his throat perilously close to danger as the hellion undid his horribly clumsy attempts at adjusting his clothing. "Th-thanks Velvet," he said, swallowing.

"What did I say about staying still?" she growled dangerously, causing him to freeze and zip his mouth shut.

Behind them, Alisha and Rose seemed to be close to tears in a silent laughing fit.

"Well, this sure is a sight to behold."

Yet again, more visitors to Sorey's room arrived through the doorway. The others turned and found four seraphim – Mikleo, Edna, Dezel, and Lailah – stepping through the tall doors and into the luxurious royal chamber.

Mikleo continued thoughtfully, raising a fist to his chin, "Never thought I'd see a day where Sorey looked as pampered as a human prince. I hardly even recognize him with all that combed hair."

Sorey glared in annoyance at him but couldn't do much else given the threat of the dangerous hellion still working away at his clothing.

Sensing weakness, Edna tilted her head with a vindictive fanged smile. "Since he's so strong and powerful now," she supposed smugly, "he should probably arrange for the cooks to accommodate his holy seraphim."

Lailah seemed to catch onto her wavelength in an instant. She clapped her hands together brightly. "Indeed," she agreed brightly. "Extra-large, extra-special helpings of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate pudding for everyone please!"

Rose put a hand on her hip. "Don't forget the strawberry tarts," she added smoothly. "I don't think we ever let him off the hook for failing the Shepherd's trial back then."

Velvet gave them all a look over her shoulder. "What's this about pudding?" she asked dryly.

Dezel sighed, resting a hand on his top hat as he looked away, out the wide windows of the suite towards the sprawling city beyond. "How in the world did things end up this way?" he muttered.

"That's what I was thinking," Sorey exhaled in exhaustion as Velvet, finally satisfied with her work, released him from her grasp.

A sharp knock at the open doorway abruptly drew their attention. Humans and seraphim turned as one to find Sergei and Leo standing in the doorway, dressed in cleanly polished armor of the Platinum Knights.

Leo blinked as he took in their appearances, in particular doing a double take as he found Velvet standing there in a dress wearing high heels. His jaw dropped open.

The therion pre-empted him with a glare. "Not one word," she growled, the emphasis on her words seeming to drop the temperature of the room by a few degrees.

Leo gave her a reproachful look. "I haven't even said anything!" he yelled defensively. She just rolled her eyes in response.

Sergei cleared his throat, ignoring his companion. "Shepherd Sorey?" he prompted, drawing his attention. "It's time."

With those words, the nerves and uncertainty seemed to return to his body all in one sharp instant. His back straightened, and he nodded determinedly. As the rest of his followers turned to him, he gave them all a thankful inclination of his head before stepping forward on unsteady legs to where Sergei waited.

It felt like ages, but eventually, he followed Sergei to a set of carpeted steps leading upward towards an open archway. Beyond, a bright blue sky dotted with intermittent clouds shone through, pushing bright sunlight through the arch and into the comparatively dark stairway within.

Sergei gently rested an armored hand upon his shoulder, giving him a respectful nod. "I thank you for this, Shepherd Sorey," the captain said genuinely. "I swear to you, we will right this world yet with your actions today."

Sorey smiled back at him, albeit shakily, as he lifted his hand from his shoulder. Then, without further ado, he forced himself to start walking up the steps towards the light above.

Warm sunlight washed over his face as he stepped out into the open air, accompanied by an enormous wave of noise and energy. It took him a moment to allow his eyes to adjust to the light and take in the scene before him.

The nation of Pendrago laid at his feet.

There he stood atop a tall platform overlooking a grand square filled to the brim with a countless amount of people. They cheered his appearance raucously, some starting up a chant while others hollered and whooped. The stamping of feet and the crying of his name and title echoed loudly off the tall stone walls encompassing the area.

The sun blazed high in the sky above it all, shining brightly upon the capital. A cote of doves took flight amidst the noise of the crowd, flapping together higher and higher away from the great castle of Pendrago.

There, upon one of the great walls of the square opposite Sorey, laid a massive full-grown dragon for all to see. Eizen's eyes were keen and intelligent as he watched the crowd and the proceedings. On a nearby balcony, he spotted the familiar colors of Velvet, Rose, and Alisha's dresses from where they were seated accompanied by the seraphim. He drew strength from their familiar presences in the face of the enormous foreign crowd.

On the platform on which he stood, a multitude of unfamiliar officials stood to attention on the sides of the aisle. He noted that the people standing to his left were dressed purposefully in a brilliant blue, whereas those on the right wore crimson red. Summoning his wits, he forced himself to give them all a polite nod and allow them to be seated before stepping forward, onto the main section of the platform with the greatest visibility to the entire crowd below.

Recognizing the signal that he'd learned from the rehearsal, Sorey then raised his left hand, wrapped in an elegant glove emblazoned with the sigil of the Shepherd, into the sky. And like magic, the raucous crowd fell into an immediate, reverent hush. Sorey's teeth grit as he hardened himself, forcing himself to do what needed to be done.

"Citizens of Hyland and Rolance," an announcer called from somewhere. "I have the great honor of presenting to you today, the very savior of both our nations."

A bated breath seemed to fall upon the crowd at the man's words.

"He is the foretold who shall lead us all to unity. The one who will break down the barriers between our rival nations and bring in a new, unprecedented era of peace and prosperity."

Sorey curled his fists at his side, forcing himself to keep his back straight.

"He hails from the legends of yore! A man who commands both Holy Seraphim and Hellion – a tamer of dragons, a sword to cut through malevolence, and the one who shall lead us to victory against the fearsome Lord of Calamity!"

Sitting quietly as she listened to the speech, Velvet looked on with hard eyes, a different speech from a very different time seeming to echo in her ears with each word.

"May I present to you, good people of both Rolance and Hyland," the announcer bellowed loudly, his words echoing throughout the square. "The new King Claudin of our era – King Regent Sorey!"

The crowd exploded in an almighty burst of cries and cheers, rattling the very stones underneath. All celebrated the man who had brought peace back to their lands – the one who held the truth of the world.

Velvet's lips were drawn into a thin line.

Above it all, Sorey gritted his teeth and bore it all without complaint.

---​

"K-King... Regent?" Sorey stammered, utterly dumbfounded at the words that had come out of Sergei's mouth. He turned and looked around, unfortunately finding nobody else in the small room but himself, Sergei, and Alisha. He turned back to the captain weakly. "You're kidding, right, Sergei?" he asked.

The captain shook his head ponderously. "Be that I wish I was, I am not," he said with a sigh, crossing his armored arms.

The clacking of horse-drawn carriages rolling on cobblestone sounded through the walls from outside the small inn room in the shocked silence that followed.

The captain exhaled again, speaking in what was likely a rehearsed manner. "The Platinum Knights have driven out all the hellions from the capital, but the emperor was slain at Heldalf's hand, and there is no clear line of succession. The Knights can only do so much when the public is clamoring for a leader in such dark times."

Sorey gritted his teeth, looking away. "...And we still don't have the slightest idea of where Heldalf is now, huh?" he asked, fatigue appearing faintly in his expression.

He fisted his hands together. "The more I think about, the more I realize that the attacks on Rolance and Hyland were likely a distraction of sorts." He shook his head tiredly. "And I have no idea what. It's frustrating and worrying."

Alisha and Sergei exchanged a glance at his words.

Sergei then nodded slowly. "Regardless of his plans," he said, "Heldalf is much more likely to face resistance if the countries of mankind can put up a united front. It does nobody any good for the countries of Glenwood to fall to pieces. I believe it is a worthwhile endeavor to pursue, at the same time while we gain more information upon Heldalf's motives and whereabouts."

"But... me?" Sorey asked with a strangled voice.

"The masses are all aware of you," Sergei said firmly. "In truth, they adore you, fanatically, even. Everyone is aware that if it were not for you, their existences would still be in turmoil. Out of gratefulness and adoration, you would be welcomed with open arms and bring in stability that is desperately, perilously needed at this very moment."

The captain took a step forward, pressing his point. "Furthermore, anyone who is qualified for Emperor is slaughtered, in hiding, or plain out of favor with the general public," he continued mercilessly, shaking his head. "We've pondered this matter long and hard, Sorey. We wouldn't suggest you take up such a heavy burden unless we were absolutely certain it was the only choice available to us."

Sorey wilted at that, hanging his head and agreeing, "...I believe you." After a moment of heavy consideration, he asked quietly, "It would... only be for a little bit, right?"

Alisha chose this moment to step up as well, a sad yet determined look on her face as she said, "Actually, Sorey, it would be more than the acting king of just Rolance." When he turned an incredulous look onto her, she admitted, "Captain Sergei and I have discussed this at length. With the death of the chancellors at my master's hands, Hyland is at the brink of collapse as well."

She shook her head, meeting Sorey's eyes firmly. "This may be our only and greatest chance to unify the two countries, even if only temporarily, and prevent more conflict from taking place in the near future." She held her hand into a fist. "Despite how I wish I could help," she said solemnly, "I believe our best solution at this moment truly is to seek for one unified country, between both Rolance and Hyland. And the only thing that will allow that to happen is through the joint adoration by the masses of the Shepherd."

"It is a future that our offspring could once only dream of," Sergei said soberly, shaking his head. "A dream of united stability bolstering the progress of mankind rather than squandering it over petty squabbles."

Sorey listened to their words with a subdued atmosphere, the astonishment and the denial slowly making way for a resigned acceptance of the validity of their words.

Alisha stepped forward, gently resting a hand on his arm and guiding his attention to her. "...That said," she said quietly, "it is your choice and yours alone, Sorey. We will not pressure you any further than this. Please, take your time, and consider it well."

Sorey nodded slowly, a thankful smile appearing on his otherwise conflicted expression. "...Alright," he said. "Thanks, Alisha."

The two of them gave him respectful nods before leaving him alone with his thoughts. There, in the silence of the isolated room, Sorey gritted his teeth.

---​

And so, months passed after the crowning of the King Regent.

---​

"Agh!"

Sorey let out a yelp as he was deposited roughly onto the ground, rolling over himself in the dirt before coming to a rough halt. Blinking rapidly, the first thing he registered was the coarse grass of the Pearloats Pasture under his palms. Pushing the disorientation aside with a vigorous mental effort, the King Regent forced himself to recall what had happened as the world around him stopped spinning.

He and the group had been all over Rolance and Hyland in the past few months, stabilizing the tense political situation and searching for signs of Heldalf across the continent. It always seemed to be one thing after another, and he had never managed find a moment to himself.

The members of his former group of followers had been split up by necessity, with seraphim and humans headed to different corners of the continent to maintain different aspects of the many matters that fell upon a King Regent seeking to end an Age of Chaos. It had been one thing after another until one night...

He'd been kidnapped in his sleep.

Sorey moaned blearily, a stroke of petulant childishness pushing through the discipline pounded into him in the past few months as he sat up and glared at the masked and cloaked figure standing across the field watching him emotionlessly.

"Velvet," he groaned, rubbing the shoulder where he'd landed, "What in the world are you doing?"

He only had a few fractions of a second to yelp and yank his sword up from where it laid in the dirt beside him to parry the therion's as she slashed her sword towards his head. Metal met metal in a loud, rough clang that send a violent tremor down his arm.

"Velvet!" he cried in alarm as he stumbled to his feet, just in time to frantically dive to the side in a roll as her enormous hellion claw tore through the air where he'd been. "Ack!" With muscle memory driving his movements, he spun to his feet and quickly snapped up his arm, unleashing a quick burst of mana out of his palm towards the woman.

The clawed hellion leapt backwards in a graceful backflip, dodging the blow while simultaneously angling herself for a leap forward. Sorey recognized the move acutely, having seen it many times before. His body moved as if of its own accord as he charged forward, raising his sword and swinging precisely towards where he knew her hidden boot blade would slash.

CLANG!

Their blades slammed together with a brief but vibrant exchange of sparks in the cool summer night amidst the Pearloats Pasture.

They danced alone amidst the field of dead crops, their blades meeting with irregular musical clangs punctuated by the burst of mana or the detonation of flame. The city of Pendrago stood in the far distance beyond the hills, silent and forgotten as the battled together. High up above, the full moon shone brightly.

They abruptly disengaged, the two of them leaping back from each other and coming to a halt a few paces away from their opponent.

Sweating, breathing hard in the cold night air with his veins surging with adrenaline, Sorey was shocked to find that a wide grin had somehow crept up into his expression. He let out a soft laugh, belatedly recognizing old feelings that had been so alien to him for the past few months. Memories of travel, of friendship, of laughter. His heart felt warm in his chest.

No matter what happened, he realized solemnly, it would be okay.

His smile grew, and he readied his stance, clearly signaling his intent to his opponent. Across from him, the masked hellion that he knew as Velvet Crowe did the same with her claw, preparing herself under the light of the full moon.

A moment of silence passed.

And then the two opposing entities sprang into motion like clockwork, charging at each other underneath the curtain of stars.

---​

Afterword:

This is the end of the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.

While there are loose ends, I realized during my little hiatus (understatement) that I didn't set out to rewrite Zestiria, but rather to tell the story of Velvet and Sorey. I believe it is best to leave things here, giving some closure for many years in progress.

Thank you all for joining me on this journey. I've truly appreciated every last moment that I've spent with you awesome folks.

It's been a pleasure – take care.

- CloudFry, January 1st, 2023