9 A Dying Ember

She followed the three older men across the village, up until they exited a southeastern gate that lead to a bridge. That bridge wasn't that long, as far as bridges went, and extended all the way to a small castle. It only took about three minutes walk to get there. Still this castle was much larger than any building in the village. How had she never noticed this place? That was probably by design, as this structure dwarfed the Adventurer's Guild near the northern entrance. Somehow, they managed to hide it.

A large door swung open as they neared it, and revealed a lush brow carpet with two butlers standing on it. The two guards entered first, and stood opposite each other, as if to form a hallway. The man who had beckoned Decena went in, bowed to a few servants who passed him, and gestured at Decena to follow him.

They walked through a large room, filled with ornaments, historical depictions nailed onto the walls, tables covered with unused plates and cutlery, and other luxuries Decena hadn't seen in some time. She hadn't seen anything this luxurious since she was at Nova's palace. They arrived at a large seat, holding a man that seemed too small to sit on it. Above the chair were three banners, two held Nova's unique red and gold symbol, portraying the Sphere of Justice, a popular sigil inside the Church of Charlotte, composed of three circles that held an eye in the center. The sigil was said to be a rune the goddess had cast using heavenly energy to bless all of Azeria. Between those two banners, was a third that was brown and dark blue, which simply held the image of an ice-wolf's head. It was a house emblem, though she didn't know which one it pertained to.

The man who brought her here cleared his throat.

"My lord, I bring you Decena, formerly known as The Red Knight." He said. Decena cringed when she heard her old moniker. It seemed no matter how hard she wanted to forget it, the world wouldn't let her. "Decena, allow me to introduce you to Duke Elias of house Stormbearer."

He bowed, and promptly left. Decena looked up at the duke. House Stormbearer was one of the lesser houses, yet, this man was a duke? He was a very thin man, but not young. Grey hairs stood out in his thick beard, and he was beginning to bald.

"My courier did not inform you of why I requested your presence?" He asked. Decena sighed and crossed her arms.

"No, he did not." She said with a bored tone. She didn't even end the sentence with "my lord". She knew she was being disrespectful, but why should she care?

"... Well," the duke stood from his throne, "I'll get to the point. Lately, there have been some rather disturbing occurances nearby. Follow me." He instructed as he began walking away, towards a room that was placed to the right of the throne. Decena walked with him.

He led her to a dark hallway, that formed into a set of stairs. Was he taking her to prison? Already? Decena arched an eyebrow, but continued nonetheless. The humidity grew as the area they walked only got darker, save for a few torches placed evenly throughout the room.

Finally, they ended up near several cells. Wait, was he actually imprisoning her!? Decena resisted the urge to run away, and kept following. Eventually, the duke halted in front of a cell, much larger than the rest. He nodded towards it, and Decena cautiously approached. She was standing in front of the cell now.

She couldn't see anything. Inside, things were pitch-black. Her eyes began to adjust to the darkness, and suddenly, she could see a shadow inside the cell. Only now did she notice the dozen locks securing the cell door. What was being kept here?

She drew closer, and just as her face was almost touching the metal bars, a high-pitched roar rang out, and a clawed hand reached out for her. She flinched back, but the hand stopped at the bars. It couldn't get through. Decena's heart was beating quickly, and her face changed to one of concern. What had she just seen?

"We have no idea what this is." The duke said, as if reading her mind.

"Where did it come from?" Decena asked. Her heart began to calm down, finally.

"It attacked a platoon of the village's guards, who were on excursion, hunting down a separate beast that had been terrorizing travelling merchants. It killed several of my soldiers, but eventually, they managed to restrain it with sheer strength in numbers. I brought the matter to my court mage, the village's authority on such matters, and he didn't know either. It seems this... Thing, just appeared one day, out of nowhere."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with me?" Decena asked.

"We believe there may be more of these things. Along the northern road, leading to Farrah Valor, we have heard similar cases of travelling merchants being decimated by a similar sounding creature. I have brought you here, because I am assembling a group of people to find and kill it. I want you to be on it."

"What? Why?"

"This is a village of mostly peasants. The adventurers here aren't worth anything, our highest ranked adventurer is but Tier 2, Rank C. However, after conducting a few background checks, I've determined that you, may be gifted enough to help us with this, Red Knight." Again, that name stung Decena's heart. "It shouldn't take too long, the area that was attacked is less than a day away. So, what do you say? Will you help us?" The duke asked. They hadn't even left the cells.

Decena took a step back. Why was the world so insistent on bothering her? Was it too much to ask for to simply sleep her days away? Instead, she was being presented the chance to be some sort of hero. Why? What had she done to deserve this? No, in any case, she deserved the opposite.

Just three years ago, her lack of strength had cost a beautiful young woman her life. They'd be better off without her.

"N-No." She felt her voice breaking. "I can't."

She ran away. Literally, she ran outside of that dark room, up the stairs, and out the duke's castle. Within seconds, running through the bridge and to the village with impressive speed, she was back at her home, and as soon as she stepped inside, she fell on her knees. Her hands were shaking. It was hard to breath.

For a moment, her lovers familiar face flashed through her eyes. What was she to do? "Nothing", a voice inside her mind said. "You're worthless."

Someone knocked on her door. Decena stood up quickly, trying to compose herself. She wiped away a few tears that threatened to come out, and straightened her shirt. She breathed in deep, and went to open the door.

"Hello there." A sultry voice said. Theresa stood with there, with her usual aura of confidence radiating. She could almost see it, tangibly.

"What is it?" Decena's voice came out a bit harsher than she'd intended. Theresa's face softened.

"I saw you running. Was that cardio, or is something wrong?" She said with a smile.

"Why do you care?"

"Oh, don't be like that." Theresa chuckled. "Is someone bullying you? Would you like me to speak to their parents?"

"Just go." Decena turned, and tried to close the door, but pale hands kept it from doing so.

"I will, after of course, you tell me what's wrong." Theresa insisted, as she opened the door and walked in, as if she owned the place. Decena sighed. She wasn't going to leave anytime soon, was she?

"They..." Decena couldn't believe herself. Was she actually going to talk to this woman? "asked me to be a part of some team. The duke."

"You as well?" Theresa replied, as she sat down on a nearby chair, crossing one leg over the other. "He asked me too." Really?

"Yeah, well, I'm not doing it." Decena looked down.

"And why is that? As far as I know, you should be one of the more capable fighters in this entire village, so I know you can't be afraid of the prospect of doing a little monster hunting, right?"

"I just... They don't need me." Decena said.

"Seriously? Have you seen the people here? Do you think a team composed of Old Bertha, from down the street, Mavis, who runs that pretzel stand, do you think they are in any shape to fight a beast?"

"I..."

"Honey, you can come up with all sorts of reasons why you don't want to go, but don't say we don't need you." Theresa replied.

"We?" Decena arched an eyebrow.

"Yes, we. I'm going." She said.

"Why?" Decena asked.

"Because I felt like it." Theresa replied. "Anyway, we don't quite stand much of a chance without you. If this thing can be taken out with a few [Fireballs], then I can hold my own, but if this thing is as much of a threat as we believe it could be, I don't think I'll be enough."

"But... But why me!? I don't, I..." She put a hand to her forehead.

"Decena." Suddenly, the elf was much closer. "I understand that you've been through a lot, but you are an exceptionally talented young lady. I'm not going to force you to go, but you should know that you are nowhere near as useless as you believe."

She stood, and took a few steps towards the door, before turning around. She smiled once more.

"Alright, I won't keep bothering you, but... Don't ponder that which you can't change. What's done is done. Move past it, and focus on what you can change now. Think about it this way," she paused for a moment. "What would she say, if she were here now?"

Decena opened her mouth, as if to counter, but before she could, the elf had left. Just like that, Decena was alone once more.

She let her head fall onto the wooden table.

"Ugh..." Her head was running in a million circles. What was she to do? No answer emerged, but then, she thought about it. What would Enverna have said, if she were here now?

She remembered how proud her lover was when she watched Decena's heroics. She was her biggest supporter, she was there from the start. Decena chuckled. It wasn't hard to imagine what that high-pitched girl would say.

"Yeah, go kick some butt!" Decena shook her head as she laughed lightly. Her eyes turned sad once more. If she were here, there's no doubt she'd tell Decena to get up and walk over to the duke's castle right now.

"Sorry." She whispered. Her sorrow still clutched her heart. She wasn't ready, at least, not yet.