16 To Search For The Truth, pt. 2

"How long have you known each other?" Decena asked.

"She hasn't mentioned me?" Floren asked. The carriage rumbled as it rolled along the dirt road.

"Not really." Decena replied. Though, to be fair, they weren't all that close themselves.

"Theresa, did our tryst mean that little to you!?" Floren asked, utterly shocked.

"I regret it every day." Theresa said.

"Fret not, love." Floren replied. "One of these days, you will realize how fervently your love burns for me!"

"... If you make me vomit, I'll be sure to aim at you." Theresa replied.

Decena smiled to herself. This ambience was... pleasant. However, in the ensuing silence, she noticed a few things. Jess was tapping her foot against the cart with an odd speed. Floren was sitting next to Decena, with his arms crossed, and his index finger tapping on his bicep. She swore she could make out a bead of sweat starting to form on Floren's face.

Decena chose not to ask about it.

They'd been on the road for about an hour. The town they were heading for was a half-day's ride away. According to Theresa, this was one of the closest town's to Farrah Valors border. That was partly why this was an important case. It was an indication that the beasts had a trajectory.

"So," Remembering this, Decena asked a question. "If the beasts are headed north, why don't we just let the demons deal with them?"

"Because," Floren responded, his voice turned as serious as it was when Decena met him, "as we speak, the queen of Nova is on excursion to Farrah Valor, negotiating with them. As you know, the war with the Griffins is in a stand-still. However, the hope is that if the demons were to assist Nova, the war would be over quickly. If these beasts make it to Farrah Valor, the demons might say they can't afford to take their troops off their own lands."

"Ugh, those demons are always so stuck-up." Jess added. It was weird to see such a bubbly person express distaste in this manner.

"Well, why don't the demons help the Griffins?" Decena asked.

"Do you want them to?" Floren asked, with an arched eyebrow.

"No. But, the demons and elves have a long history of war against each other. Why wouldn't they say, 'hey, let's take out the guys that have been messing with us for... ever'?"

"Because they fear that the beastmen wouldn't stop with burning Nova down. There isn't a real reason for the beastmen to attack the demon, but they have no indication that they will not. Of course, as you pointed out, tensions are still there with the Nova, so, the demons have chosen to stay neutral and deal with the aftermath as it comes." Floren indicated.

"Why do the beastmen hate the elves that much anyway?" Decena asked.

"You're more qualified to answer this, dear." Floren said to Theresa, who nodded back at him.

"As you know, Decena, the beastmen are one of the three magical races. However, unlike the terreth, and the celestials, they didn't come from the world, they were made."

The carriage took a slightly harsh turn that pulled Decena slightly to the left. Theresa was completely unfazed though.

"A thousand years ago, during the seventh era, some dark mage systematically kidnapped over a hundred people. One at a time, he took them to his lair where he performed unnatural experiments with them. He wanted to create a sort of, superior being by creating hybrids between elves and beasts, through some form of Reality Magic, and then enslave them with Dark Magic. He intended to create a large army, and dominate the world, as most power-hungry mages do. Well, after he'd created over a hundred hybrids, under the leadership of some sort of lion-woman, his prisoners rebelled. He killed a large amount of them. He was powerful, after all. But, in the end, they did kill him."

She paused, allowing Decena to absorb the information, before continuing.

"The new hybrids returned to Nova shortly after, but they were cast out. They were deemed monsters, and thrown back into the wild. They couldn't return to their homeland, and they weren't about to visit the demons, when tensions were much higher than they are now. So, with no other choice, they fled south. Right now, there are only three kinds of beastmen, wolf-men, lion-men, and snake-men, but there apparently, were more races that didn't survive the journey. There, they built a village from scratch. That village, later turned into a small city. And now, a thousand years later, they've made a kingdom out of it. Historians declared this the beginning of the eighth era. It was in honor of that first leader of theirs that they named their country Griffin's Sight. If you ignore the slavery and the modern prejudice against any and all outsiders, it's quite admirable what they did. Now, they wish to use their newfound military strength to destroy those who cast them away when they needed them most."

...

Some hours later, the caravan stopped. Decena's head perked up. She had gotten close to falling asleep.

"Alright. Let's go." Theresa instructed.

Decena leapt out of the cart, and found the dozen people that had enlisted for this mission spreading out in front of the caravan, on a grassy field. Not too far away from them, was a town on fire. She could see how tense everyone was around her, it was like they didn't really believe they'd be fighting today. In truth, Decena didn't know if she believed that either. But she had no fear in her heart.

Theresa stood in front of them.

"Everyone, listen up." Theresa called out. "First off, you should know that I've been named the leader of this expedition, so you will be taking your orders from me while we're in this area." She spoke with a firmness Decena hadn't known could come from her. "We're not here to be heroes. This is scouting. An information relay. Don't be fools. Keep your eyes on your surroundings, and you'll be back at the tavern, getting drunk before ya know it."

With that, her black coat flapped in the air as she spun and began almost marching towards the burning town.

The enlisted showed no signs of movement at first, until Decena began walking behind her.

One by one, they started to walk as well.

They arrived a few minutes later. Decena was impressed by the sight. White buildings with a vigorous orange dancing around them. Was this a human town? It would fit with the location, as human towns tended to be spread out near the Farrah Valor border.

There were corpses burning across the street they walked on, and several horses dead alongside them. Some of these people had tried to escape.

A roof collapsed to Decena's left just as she passed it. Just then, she heard a man whimper beside her. It was Bensen, the boy she'd spoken to briefly at the castle's courtyard.

"It's all so... fresh." He said.

He was right. Some corpses looked like they'd been alive just a few minutes ago. It wasn't a good sign.

Decena gripped her sword's hilt. She was anxious. Having killed one of these things, she didn't doubt she could hold her own in a straight fight, but if she were to fall victim to a surprise attack...

The group continued until Theresa stopped cold, raising a single hand. Decena noticed that she wasn't wearing any weapon on her. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Theresa fight before.

"Look for survivors. Check the houses." She ordered. "Healers, take anyone we find."

Decena decided to go inside an almost ashen home just ahead of her. The outer wood had crumbled, but the stone still stood.

There was no door to open, so she just walked inside. The smell of burning wood was annoying, but she wandered deeper inside what had been a living room at one point. There were decorations that were still intact, and not all of the furniture had been broken.

It wasn't like a beast had crushed this place, it was like someone came in and strategically killed whoever lived here.

The bodies of which, didn't take long to find. There was a woman on the floor, with her arm stretching towards the stairs that led to a second floor. She was probably trying to escape. The woman's back had been sliced with a single strike that tore from her right shoulder, all the way to her left leg.

A few feet away lie her husband, probably. He was turned face up, and had a single, almost surgical incision where his heart should be. This was too strange.

Decena heard a whimpering come from behind her, and instantly, she pulled her sword out. There was no one there though. Instead, she heard the whimpers continue, this time, identifying their location.

They emanated from a cupboard, beside the kitchen sink.

Slowly, Decena made her way towards it, crouching, and softly opening one of its two small doors.

Behind, sat a child. A young boy, clutching some toy. His legs were twitching, one of them held a small gash on his calf. His arms were trembling, covered in someone else's blood. Worst of all though, were his eyes.

Bulging, bloodshot eyes. The eyes of someone who had seen death come far too close, when they weren't ready for it.

"Hey, uh, it's okay." Decena tried to comfort him as she reached for his hand. The boy seemed to just realize that she was there, and at first flinched, but when Decena pulled her own hand back, he appeared to realize what was happening, and quickly scurried forwards.

He began sobbing violently. Decena tried to pat his head, and calm him down, but what could she even do?

Resigning herself, she sheathed her sword and grabbed the boy by the arm, lifting him up and placing him on her back, which he quickly hugged.

As she turned though, she noticed a body lying near the corner of the room. A sinle man, wearing a black hood, and a black robe, with most of his innards ripped out. Now, that had certainly been the result of a beast's attack. But, who was he?

Decena exited the home with the kid at her back, and only now did she notice that actually, several bodies were clad in black robes and hoods. Not only that, however, some of the victims had steel collars around their necks. A healer came and took the kid off her back, who reluctantly let go to follow the white-robed stranger.

Theresa was standing in the middle of the street, staring at one of the corpses. Decena went up to her.

She traced her line of sight to one body, with a collar around its neck.

"I don't think monsters are particularly interested in slaves, do you?" Theresa asked. "Nor do I believe that Nova had revoked its abolition of slavery. And there aren't supposed to be any Griffins around here, so..." She turned towards Decena. "Who did that?"

Decena knew what Theresa was referring to, and without a word, she turned her eyes towards another body, that was dressed in the black cloak and hood.

"... Who are these people?" Theresa asked no one in particular.

"Uagh, fuck!" Decena heard Jess exclaim from behind her. She had just run out of a house and found herself crouched, puking. She looked around and saw that none of the other recruits were taking this sight well. Not even Floren, who had been a knight! Now that she thought about it, why had he even been transferred to Daysinn Village?

She cast her eyes around. Something had happened here, something big, before even those monsters arrived.

Suddenly, some type of unnatural screech sounded in the air. Decena turned her head to the right.

Some kind of blue distortion was happening way ahead of her. She turned to gauge Theresa's reaction, but the elf was equally perplexed.

Everyone was staring at this thing. It was like a portal, out of fiction.

Then, something began to manifest from thin air, like a drawing happening in front of her.

Wings first, black, like the night sky. A thin torso, that was like a snake had its scales peeled off. As the wings continued to take shape, she noticed they were turning into full arms. As if you sewed wings onto a regular person. An oval shaped head, that looked like a mixture between a wolf and a person's. Legs took shape, like those of a dragon. Finally, as a tail unfurled, two red eyes beamed into existence.

Decena was frozen. This thing was like a much larger version of what she had fought before. She had almost forgotten how to breath.

The beast began breathing, and suddenly, it was aware of where it was. It tilted it's head towards Decena, and the people behind her. What was it doing? Gauging her?

She had almost forgotten to breath until she felt someone tap her shoulder.

She looked to her side, and saw a quivering Jess pointing at the beast.

"W-We can take it. Right?" Decena understood. It became all too clear as she looked around briefly and saw the enlisted unsheathing their blades nervously.

They were scared to death, and looking to her for comfort.

Decena pulled out her own sword and stared defiantly at the monster. Right, this was why she was here. Plus, she'd killed one of these things before, with ease even. What reason did she have to be frightened?

She took a few paces forward. Her walk, turned into a jog, and then, she was running towards it.

The beast understood, Decena could see the realization in its eyes. Decena ducked, and tried to end the fight as quickly as she could, with a single stab to the monster's gut. It didn't react, and Decena was given a free lane to victory.

Only, her sword didn't go through. She stared at the monster in confusion, before, with a swiftness the other monster hadn't exhibited, it spun and slammed Decena's left side with it's tail.

She was almost knocked out. Groggily, she tried to sit up, hoping that she would do so in time as to avoid certain death. Only, the beast wasn't looking at her.

It was staring at the ones who had stood behind Decena. Theresa, Floren, Jess, Bensen and the rest. Did it assume that it had killed Decena already?

Decena attempted to make it regret its arrogance, but before she could stand, the beast flapped its wings once, and flew upwards, hovering above them. Why?

Theresa looked just as confused, but her eyes widened, and she screamed something at the students that Decena didn't hear, and they began dispersing rapidly.

Decena looked back up at the monster, and saw five red circles forming around it, like stars around the moon. From these circles, at once, red beams emerged, aimed at no one in particular.

Still, death ensued. She saw one beam go directly through an adventurer's chest. Another one, a healer that had secured a few survivors the others had found, was disintegrated in front of Decena.

She turned when she heard a boyish cry. To her right, a red beam struck Bensen's right shoulder, but just that contact was enough to destroy his entire upper torso.

He, and a few others, had died quicker than Decena could register. Her eyes were nearly bulging out of their sockets. What was happening? Why was it happening so quickly!? If she at least had some time to prepare a strategy or anything, maybe she could do something but...

Then, she was forced to close her left eye, as a blinding light appeared. She turned, put her hand in front of her face to surpress the effect, and tried to see what was happening.

She almost cried with joy.

Theresa had erected a shield made of white flame, that was stopping the beast's red beams. There was a look of determination on her face, that Decena hadn't seen. In that moment, she looked every bit as intimidating as the monster floating above.

The beast in question saw that its beams were being held back, and flew back to the ground.

Jess, Floren, and the other few remaining enlisted had hid inside different ruined homes. The only people still out in the open, were Decena, Theresa, and the beast.

Theresa's shield disappeared, and she reared her hand back. The beast didn't flinch. From Theresa's palm, a single orb of white flame erupted towards the beast, but when it struck, it inflicted no damage.

Both Theresa and Decena were stunned, but seeing it a second time, and from a different Decena didn't miss the shift that happened in the beast's body.

As soon as Theresa's attack approached it, its soft, squishy looking skin turned almost metallic. However, its back remained just as soft.

Decena quietly positioned herself behind the beast as it, and Theresa stared at each other, anticipating the next attack.

With her prodigious speed, she lunged towards the beast and stabbed straight through its back.

It released a deafening cry, and turned to swipe at Decena, who swiftly dodged the strike and rolled back, but then, a blast of white fire struck the monsters back, who had turned to face Decena.

Decena grit her teeth, and ran forward. It turned once more, towards Theresa. But it didn't fail to see Decena's attack coming after it, and thus it attempted to angle its body, in a way that kept both of them in view.

But they were coming from opposite directions, the beast couldn't pull off this feat.

Just as Decena was about to stab it, and another orb of white flame was going to strike the beast's side, it flapped its wings once and flew up into the air.

Decena couldn't halt her momentum, and Theresa had already cast her spell. So, she ran into the white flame orb, at full speed.

Decena realized two things as she was sent flying back, due to Theresa's attack. Firstly, this beast was no fool. In fact, whether or not it was really an animal could be put to debate. Second, Theresa was indeed, extraordinarily powerful. This spell that had just hit Decena, had caused what was easily one of the most painful experiences she'd ever had.

And for her, who had fought in the Pits regularly, that was no small accolade.

As she got to a crouch, she noticed that the spell had burned off her abdomen's armor. She would chuckle if she weren't trying not to pass out from the pain. She looked ridiculous.

The beast roared, and Decena turned her head up quickly to see what it was about to do.

It had, in fact, been flying towards her, and carrying an attack intent on ending Decena's life, and just as its giant claws came in reach of her head, a well placed orb from Theresa knocked the beast right out of the air.

Decena was shocked. She scorned herself. She needed to focus, her life was in danger.

It was that realization, that made her stand.

The monster flew towards her. Decena jumped back, just in time to avoid a spinning, downwards slash that would have cut her head off.

As she sat that though, an idea appeared in her mind.

She didn't stop when she landed, and instead, she hopped back further. Step by step, until she was standing beside Theresa.

"I'm running out of magic." Theresa immediately said. How? She'd only used a few spells? Well, unless they happened to be high-level.

"Can you cast one more spell?" Decena asked. Theresa nodded.

"A few." Theresa replied.

"I just need one. Make it a strong one." Decena said. "Aim for its gut. Fire it off when you see me jump."

"What are you..." Theresa began to say.

Without another word, Decena began calmly walking towards the beast. She placed her sword in front of her, and started jogging.

The monster responded by doing the same, and now, they were running at each other.

Decena extended her sword, aiming it at the beast's chest, the monster in turn raised a claw.

Decena continued, until she was within about ten feet of it.

Then, she stomped her foot down, and leapt up into the air. Her old strength was still there, and it was still enough to accomplish such a feat.

The beast saw this happen, and as Decena spun downwards much in the same way it had previously, it hardened its head to take the impact.

Just then though, in that fraction of a second, it saw a projectile coming from Theresa, and instinctively, it hardened its gut.

With its head softened, as Decena's blade came down, it sliced through the monsters skull with ease, and as Decena fell behind the beast, propelled by her momentum, she saw the monsters body go limp.

The beast fell to its knees, and then on its head, as its large body crashed forwards.

It was dead.

Decena couldn't move for a moment. It expected the monster to stand and keep fighting. but, sure enough, the beast had indeed died. She stood, immediately grabbing her side now that the adrenaline of battle had worn off.

Theresa walked towards the beast, her hand extended. As she realized it wouldn't move again, she lowered her hand.

Slowly, the other enlisted and the survivors emerged. They gathered around the monster, all shocked that Theresa and Decena had survived.

But their grief at the fact that several of the others had died was even larger.

Several minutes later, Decena sat on the carriage. She held her hands in front of her.

A bit far away, Jess and Floren carried expressions Decena could see from here. They looked utterly horrified. Decena could have expected it from Jess, seeing something like this for the first time, but Floren was a knight. How could he appear so shaken?

It didn't matter, what mattered was that she had failed once again to protect those she said she would.

Was there any real hope that she could become great once more? Was this a sign that she should maybe, move out somewhere far away, where she wouldn't continue failing to save people?

"We'll be leaving in a few minutes." She heard someone say from her right. She looked and saw a crestfallen Theresa approaching. "They're strapping the monster's corpse to one of the carts." In the end, all they discovered was that these things seemed to be appearing out of thin air.

"You were wrong." Decena said. "About me."

"Why?" Theresa asked. The question caught Decena off guard.

"Why? Because I couldn't go one mission without getting people killed."

"This was never the kind of mission where everyone was expected to make it out." Theresa said. "I didn't expect that. The duke didn't expect that. Did you? Or was it, maybe, you wanted everyone to live? Even the people you didn't know. Maybe you wanted to get to know them, and you're sad that you won't have that chance."

"So?" She was close to snapping. There was a strain in her voice. "Sure, what about it!?"

"You think the old you isn't here anymore, but... That, Decena, that goal," Theresa replied, "is the kind of thing only a knight would dream of."

...

A few hours later.

They had dropped the monster off at the duke's castle for his court mage to look at. They were compensated appropriately, those who survived that is. But, that wasn't enough to lift a single person's spirits, really.

Decena left thinking back to everyone she'd seen that day. Their expressions when they saw that monster appear. Their expressions when it began attacking.

She had been useless in the face of adversity. She hated it. Hated herself for it.

But, as much as she wanted to go back to being a shut-in, she felt a burning sensation instead, to prevent it from happening again. To prevent others from seeing the same fate.

"Bensen, eh." Decena said aloud, disregarding a few strange looks she received from the other customers gathered at the tavern. How little she had spoken to the kid. Could they have been friends? What about the other enlisted who never got the chance to introduce themselves, could they?

"This is for you, whoever the fuck you were." She said as she received a tin cup filled with a black liquid.