23 The Queen's Journey, pt. 4

Eliara's POV

As the caravan moved, she began to notice the terrain changing once more.

Up north, near Farrah Valor, all she saw was that mysterious enigma referred to as "snow". It was her first time seeing the phenomenon.

When they reached Nova's territory, small patches of tall grass maneuvered around rainforests and trees the size of which, she couldn't believe.

Then, just before they entered the Guillotine Canyons, things had turned dry, and dirt covered the horizon for miles.

Just a day ago, everything looked bleak and dreary. The sky was grey, the ground was grey, the enlisted looked grey.

Now, it was like they'd rolled into a mosaic showcase of different climates. If she looked in a few different directions, she'd quickly wonder where the heck they even were.

Even with the art-worthy prestige lying just outside her cart though, her hand ached against her white skirt.

She wanted something to happen.

Those necromancers, Griffins, come on! Why couldn't someone just, arrive or something.

Of course, that wasn't to say she wanted people to die, on the contrary, she wanted to show just how capable she was of keeping every single member of the company alive.

The caravan continued until just up ahead, the Midland Bridge became visible.

It was a towering construct.

Two colossal statues displaying a demon and an elf respectively, stood granting passage to anyone traversing the land.

Apparently, this feat of engineering was designed after the end of the Great War, several thousands of years ago, when the demons and elves of the time reached an agreement to live in cautious peace with one another.

The bridge itself was made entirely of wood, and connected two large portions of land over a flowing lake.

While they had already been in Nova territory for a while, it was commonly joked that this was where Nova really began to mark its territory.

The chauffeur pulled slightly on the horses' reins, causing the caravan as a whole to move slower.

While it had been reinforced over the years, the bridge was still wood. As such, it had to be walked on lightly.

Several birds cawed above them as the carriage pulled to a stop.

Eliara glanced at her mother.

What's going on?

Cerena, in turn, tilted her head towards Olyneces, who opened the cart's side door and poked his head outside.

"What's the hold up?" He yelled out.

"The... dge" Eliara heard the chauffeur reply. She took a deep breath as Olyneces pulled his head back into the cart.

"What was it?" Cerena asked.

"He can't see the bridge." Olyneces said.

Every pair of eyebrows inside that cart went up at the same time.

The Saviors exited the vehicle. Eliara went to follow them, but Cerena reflexively held her back.

"Mother," Eliara said, "I have to be there, in case they need help."

She could tell her mother had basically forgotten the agreement they had arrived at. With a reluctant nod, she let Eliara go.

She contained herself, settling for a pleasant nod and leaving the cart gracefully, but a magnificent sense of excitement was bubbling up inside her.

She remembered the lessons given to her by the court mage, back at the palace.

Plan out which spells you will be using before you enter the fight. When you're nearing your limit, step back and rest. Otherwise, you'll go into Magic Exhaustion, or worse.

It was an effect every mage dreaded.

Essentially, if one were to use a spell that consumed more magic than the mage had in their body, so, if Eliara used a spell that consumed 301M, which far exceeds her limit of 249M, the body would compensate by giving away a piece of itself to complete the process.

Magic, after all, is as much a physical part of mages as blood is. This is why mages knock themselves out when they use their magic up.

So, if she were to do this, the body would give itself to the spell. Which body part it gives, however, is completely random.

She could wake up without an eye, or the spell could leave her without a heart to pump the blood in her veins.

Magic Expulsion, the scholars call it.

Luckily though, Eliara did not know a single spell that required more magic than what she had.

When she stepped out into the open air, she had to hold a hand in front of her eyes to shield herself from the brilliance of the light that covered the land.

It made her smile. How long had she been couped up in that cart? She felt free.

She almost forgot that this wasn't a routine stop.

Walking forward, she saw the Saviors standing over what was supposed to be a large, wooden bridge.

Instead, all they could see was a thick smoke, covering the structute.

Goran moved closer. Of course he did, the day he learns patience is the day Cerena allows Eliara to become a proper soldier.

He reached forwards, trying to touch the wooden railing, but after a careful swipe, he fell forwards.

The railing, or, the bridge for that matter, wasn't there.

Olyneces placed a hand on the gaunt man's shoulder.

"Careful there." He said.

Goran distastefully shook him off.

"I don't need your help." He replied, before crossing his arms in front of the mist. "A spell?"

"Probably some form of Illusion Magic." Eliara heard someone say, moving past her left. Theresa, and the other enlisted along with her, had gotten out of their carriage. "No other explanation, really."

"Was it the Griffins?" Goran asked. He sounded almost as excited as Eliara.

"No. We would have been attacked by now, and they aren't exactly fond of mages to begin with, considering their origin." Theresa replied.

Goran looked indignant. Like he was ashamed that he had to ask.

By now, Eliara knew better than to associate herself with him, he was her least favorite of the Saviors anyway.

"Pop quiz, Eliara." Theresa popped up behind her before she could notice the elf was even moving in her direction. "Name all the Schools of Magic." Easy. Eliara thought.

"Reality, Illusion, Light, and Dark." Eliara replied, almost automatically. "Reality Magic revolves around spells that directly alter the physical world, either creating things like fire, or moving objects with one's mind. Illusion is the opposite, using spells that toy with people's senses to make up things that don't actually exist. Light Magic contains any spell that uses heavenly energy, the power of Charlotte above us, while Dark Magic is any spell that directly affects the human body, generally using negative emotions to fuel the powers in question."

"Sharp, Eliara, sharp." Theresa applauded her.

"Uh, hello?" Goran snapped his fingers and clicked his tongue. "Hate to interrupt your little lesson, but we're in the middle of something here."

"Not like we can do much right now." Theresa replied with a smirk. "I'm a Light Magic expert. Not much I can do about this."

Goran blinked. So did Eliara. Hell, so did everyone around them.

"Wait, what?" Eliara asked.

"Yes." Theresa affirmed. "I'm not equipped to remove this spell."

She was certain that every single person there had been thinking the same thing she was. Theresa will take care of this. Instead, this had just become a real problem.

"Well," Theresa continued, "if we find the person responsible, they can take the spell down. Or, with enough time, the spell will wear off. No Illusion spell is permanent."

"Alright," Olyneces said from a distance. "Goran, go tell the queen what's going on, we will be setting up camp here, for now."

"Aye, aye." Goran quickly replied. His attitude changed in the blink of an eye.

Eliara scowled. The man's attraction to her mother was no secret. Well, most men found the queen attractive, but Goran was quite a bit more open with his tastes.

An hour later, they had placed their equipment in a circle beside the road, on the dirt that covered the land.

A search party had been organized to find the person responsible for the spell.

First, Theresa would head out with some of the enlisted, and cover half of their perimeter. Then, Eliara would lead the Saviors to do the same, along with one other enlisted the queen had ordered to go with them.

This is why Eliara was currently sitting on a wooden crate, with her face looking redder than the late afternoon sky, just a few steps away from a boy that was quite gifted at making her heart beat faster whenever he drew closer.

"So, this smoke stuff is weird, huh?" Eliara said nervously. She cringed when she heard the words come out of her mouth. Real smooth, you idiot. She thought.

"Eh? Uh, yeah." The brown-haired boy replied nonchalantly. That was precisely what she liked about him.

Jin didn't appear to care at all about her status. He was the only one in a sea of people she'd met who displayed that trait.

He was sharpening his sword while they waited for the Saviors to gather their equipment. Truthfully, she doubted he'd need to use it considering who was tagging along with them.

We'll be fine. She thought. No one can beat the Saviors. She smiled. Her mother's elite group may get on her nerves at times, but their arrogance was well-earned.

"So, where are you from?" Eliara asked.

"Seriously, this again?" She heard him mutter, and scorned herself, though she didn't know what she did wrong. "I'm from a forest up north. Lived there all my life."

"Wow, that couldn't have been very safe." Eliara replied. "You must be pretty handy in a fight, right?"

"No," Jin replied, sounding incredibly disappointed in himself. "I'm learning though."

"We're back." Olyneces walked towards them, smirking slightly at Jin, though the boy didn't appear to notice. "Alright, let's go check things out."

It was happening. No more stalling.

Eliara breathed slowly. She'd be in real danger now. She had to remember her lessons.

[Burst Heal] is probably going to take away too much of my magic. I'm gonna have to focus on using [Healing Stream] and going from one to the other. As for protecting myself... She shuddered at the thought, before trying to shake the concern away. I can use [Flame Spray]. It's a basic spell, but it's all I know, plus it should give the Saviors time to get to me.

With that, she stood from the crate, before putting her hands together, and closing her eyes.

Charlotte, Creator of all we know. Please, bless me with the power to keep my allies safe.

She smiled profoundly. If all else failed, she could count on her divine protector to shield her from all threats.

"What was that?" She heard someone ask. She turned, and found Jin's eyes curiously analyzing her.

"I was praying." She replied, shocked that he would even ask.

"What does that do?" Jin asked, tilting his head. Was he serious?

"Helps me to speak to The Ones Above." Eliara replied.

Jin looked up. It took Eliara a moment to understand what just happened. When she said, "The One Above", he took it literally.

Shaking his head, Jin replied.

"I don't see anyone." And started to walk away.

Eliara didn't know whether to laugh or feel concerned.

Moments later, the wind picked up, bringing dirt along with it. Slowly, but surely, her white skirt was staining. She hated every second of this, but she still appreciated a few parts of it.

For one, she felt like she was being relied on. Like the Saviors in front of her couldn't wipe out half of Azeria by themselves, and like she was their anchor.

Secondly, the close proximity at which she and Jin found themselves due to orders from Olyneces to stay close together, was not at all unpleasant.

Still though, as time ticked on, it became apparent that there was nothing to befound here.

Eventually, she could see Goran spreading his arms out, yelling at the older Savior.

"Let's go back! If the mage is still around, they're probably near the bridge." He said.

"I don't usually agree with him, but Goran is right." Hera added. "We should go back. Theresa is capable, but the queen needs us at her side."

"... Alright." Olyneces relented.

"I... do... ..ink so." A voice whispered. They turned, searching for whoever spoke.

"Did you hear something?" Jin asked.

"Yeah." Eliara replied.

"Yes." Olyneces confirmed, not at all comfortable with the situation. The group hesitated.

After a brief silence, Olyneces cleared his throat.

"Let's go back."

Decena's POV

The small group comprised of some of the greatest fighters in all the land, the queen's daughter, and... Jin, returned.

Decena went right back to sharpening her sword. Truth be told, she just wanted something to do.

But, as the members of the brief excursion walked by her, she saw the princess carrying an unreadable expression.

"What's up?" If you asked, she wouldn't be able to say what compelled her to ask, but Decena did.

"What?" Eliara looked at her like the last thing she expected in this world was to have a conversation with the redhead.

"I asked you what's up? You look..." Was bored the right word? She crunched her eyebrows. "Disappointed?"

Eliara started fidgeting with the hem of her skirt.

"Uh, of course not. Why, why would I be?" Decena shrugged in response. Losing all interest, she answered back.

"I guess I was wrong."

A sound appeared. It was loud, but at the same time, you had to focus to listen to it.

An unnatural screeching.

The rest of the enlisted seemed confused, all except for a select few. Decena, Jess, Floren, and Theresa all popped up off their seats as soon as they heard it.

Decena's eyes sprang open.

Could it be?

But, as soon as it had come, the sound disappeared. This time, there was no blue distortion in the air. It was like a passing wind.

Decena looked ahead, towards the Midland Bridge, but there was nothing there.

She knew she heard it, since everyone else had reacted as well, but it would seem whatever had caused the sound disappeared.

She breathed a relaxed sigh.

"I guess it was..." As she turned though, she saw that the everyone present had suddenly gone asleep. "... Fine."

She stood off her crate.

One by one, she went around the camp, inspecting people. She poked Jin's cheek, nothing. She lightly kicked Theresa, nothing.

She even went as far as to invade the queen's privacy, lightly knocking on her decorated cart's door.

"Excuse me, your grace, I..." She cautiously opened the door, only to find the queen's ever-elegant figure, sound asleep. "... Nevermind."

Walking back over to the camp, she stood over the enlisted. Clearly, this was a form of...

"Oh my, a Child of the Dark? I'll admit, I did not expect to see any of you in this era. I would have thought you'd outlaw such behavior after my most recent activites." A sultry, teasing voice spoke up behind her.

Only, the voice didn't come from directly behind her, but rather, behind and above.

Decena turned and cast her eyes up.

Her eyes widened.

Wings, as black as the night sky. Eyes that clearly glowed red, even in the broad daylight. Skin that seemed as smooth as silk, but she knew from experience was harder than steel. Dragon-like legs, and a tail that whimsically swung behind the threatening figure. However, instead of the wolf-like head she had encountered previously, this time, the monster had the head of a beautiful, elven woman.

What. The. Fuck?

"Are you not capable of speech? It seems that this time is not too different from my own. Pity." Decena breathed in upon hearing this. She hadn't realized yet that she was shaking.

"What are you?" She nearly whispered.

"Perfection." The being in front of her replied. Decena could hardly counter. If she'd ever seen anything that looked like a deity of sorts, this was it. "Ah, but alas, I would love to fly and chat, but I am short on time, ironically. I'll be killing you now."

As quickly as she could, she reached over to pull her sword from its sheathe. Of course, she hadn't realized she was holding it.

For the first time in years, Decena was sweating, not from exertion, but fear.

The being in front of her raised one of its black arms, and extended it in her direction.

What could she even do? It was flying so high up that jumping towards it was but a fantasy maybe a child would concieve.

As a red beam surged towards her, she settled for diving out of the way first.

Everything the beam touched disintegrated next to her. The wood, the ground the beam had hit was gone

Decena's heart rate picked up. She was undoubtedly the strongest of any of the enlisted, and yet, she quickly realized she was helpless.

A sound like a metallic whining rang out, and she assumed another attack was headed her way.

She rolled to the other side of the cart. This time, the blast went straight through, and destroyed the weak, wooden structure completely.

"Hehehe, I forgot how the rats moved." The being, no, the monster hissed.

This isn't good. Decena thought. I have to do something.

However, as she pondered the matter, a hole was neatly made right next to her head.

The blast sent her flying to the side, ending up in an aimless roll.

As she picked herself up, she realized that the monster was toying with her. If she had wanted it, she could have killed her right then and there.

Decena got up slowly. Scratches were accumulating all over her now-stained armor.

"Hahaha! This is too fun!" Her red eyes went wild, and suddenly, several red circled appeared around her body.

Decena slowly realized, each one of those circled was soon to become a beam aiming straight at her.

She gulped and began running away from the hail of death headed her way.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" She yelled out loud.

All around her, a brown gust of wind erupted as red light wrecked the ground she walked on.

Finally, one explosion seemed to just cause enough force to send her flying forwards.

She landed on her head.

For a moment, everything was blurry. Then she realized, it wasn't blurry. It was just that she had become engulfed by the mist.

"Ah? Well, no matter. This will make the event all the more enjoyable." The monster whispered.

Decena couldn't hear anything. She turned, having lost track of where the beast was.

The mist suddenly spread out, as a red beam sliced through it.

She tried to turn, but the message didn't seem to get from her mind to her body quickly enough. The result was a slice through her left shoulder, like she had been grazed by a sword.

She cried out in pain, which only appeared to feed the monster's delight.

"Well," the beast breathed, "this has been fun. But I must get going. I must know why I have been summoned like this..." She whispered that last part, but Decena's perceptive ears caught it.

The whole time the monster spoke, distracted with its own pointless sermon, Decena had been looking around.

She noticed the caravan's equipment cart in the distance, slightly damaged from the blast radius caused by the monster's spells.

She ran as hard, and as fast as she could.

"Ah? Oh, forgive me, I seem to have become distracted."

One second, Decena was running for the cart, the next, red eyes peered back at her, as she quickly ran towards them.

Had the monster moved that quickly? Impossible!

Like she were a mere feather, the monster sent her back.

She landed hard, coughing up some blood in the process, and breathing in the rising, dirt mist.

"Ah, but I must thank you. For, I had only intended to kill you, but here you have reminded me of my other caught prey."

Decena's eyes widened.

In her haste, she had driven the beast straight towards the other enlisted.

She saw how the monster's red eyes gazed over the healer, Cara.

Red circles appeared beside the monster's head, and in one tragic instant, Cara's head was no longer there.

Decena could only watch as a smirk graced the beast's portrait.

Red eyes fell on another body, lying next to it. Jess.

As before, red circles appeared beside her head, but this time, Decena tried to run towards them.

Still though, once again, as she had failed her lover in the past, she was too slow. Jess suffered the same fate.

Decena felt something slide over her cheek. She thought it was blood at first, but her eyebrows crunched with confusion when she saw the liquid falling from her face was transparent.

Glancing back at the monster, she saw a new emotion appear on its face.

Anger.

"The Saviors." She hissed with the most contempt Decena had ever heard mustered. "Ah, if only Francois could feel the ecstasy going through my body right now." She said, raising a hand towards the female Savior's direction.

Closer this time, Decena tried to press forward, but again, arrived too late.

Her limbs nearly went numb. She wanted to curl up, to close her eyes and pretend that this was a nightmare.

However, when she saw the beast's next prey, all intentions of doing so left her body.

The princess.

In one second, the beast lifted her hand.

In the next, Decena looked to her right, and found her sword, lying just three feet away.

In the third, red orbs circled the beast's head.

In the fourth, a sword flew through the air and impaled the monster's thigh.

A screech that nearly made Decena's ears bleed rang out. She couldn't confirm it, but she swore she felt the ground shake.

"Vous putain!" The beast yelled out in a strange tongue Decena hadn't heard before.

Her teeth, previously smooth and humanoid, turned into fangs.

Decena wasn't even the slightest bit scared though. Instead, she stood.

Red eyes widened, and in one second, Decena was standing firmly, some distance away from the beast.

Seeing the princess lying there, in danger, had reminded her of her mission. She wouldn't fail again. Not while she still lived.

Which, of course, wouldn't be for long. But, that said, her honor would be intact. The queen would die, but she would have done everything in her power to stop it. And that was enough.

She closed her eyes as the monster lunged forwards, fully accepting her fate.

Only, the decapitating slice wouldn't arrive.

She opened her eyes, curious as to what had happened.

What she saw made her fall right back on her ass.

In front of her, a golden haze had appeared. The beast saw it as well, and had seemingly forgotten all of its previous anger, settling instead for utter disbelief.

"Merde..." It whispered. "Impossible!"

She had thought about it due to the fear earlier, but now, she actually questioned whether or not she was dreaming.

In front of her, golden horses with manes of fire rode out from the haze.

The beast saw this, and instantly took off in the opposite direction, flying through the air at a remarkable speed.

Even then, spears of light flew past her. One managed to clip the monster's shoulder, causing another earth-shattering screech.

Despite that though, the monster disappeared shortly after.

What. The. Fuck?

But it was still going. Only now, people started to come out.

Elves dressed in white, holding golden weapons that resembled the Savior's armor. Decena squinted. They looked like elves, but not like them at the same time. They looked somewhat taller, and with sharper facial features.

Even more surprisingly, demons dressed the same way, only with blue skin and dim red eyes walked after them. She couldn't tell how many there were in total.

But, each one began to walk through the camp.

"What a mess." One said. "Her divinity will be rustled, I presume."

"Ah, but this kind of a happening was expected, with the devil's resurgence." One demon said.

"True. Well, let's acquire our newest."

They began to circle Hera, the fallen Savior.

Four of them grabbed a limb, and as a unit, they carried the headless corpse into that golden haze.

One of them stopped.

"Ah, I almost forgot." He turned, and with a snap of his fingers, the mist that enveloped the Midland Bridge disappeared.

It was intact, and began swinging as though it had previously been frozen.

Without another word, they disappeared into the golden haze, which disappeared with them.

Silence spread, and Decena found herself lying on her back, contemplating what she had just seen.

...

Everyone woke up moments later.

Of course, the first thing they noticed were the headless bodies of Jess and Cara, along with the missing Savior.

Floren cried his eyes out when he saw Jess.

Gathering the remaining members of the party in a circle, Decena did her best to explain what she had seen.

"Yargoth." Jin whispered when he heard the monster's description.

"But this one spoke." Decena answered back. "It was... intelligent."

"Still," Theresa interrupted, "it's features were clearly that of the beast we encountered earlier. Maybe there are simply different kinds."

Even though they ran around this topic endlessly, there was one elephant in the room no one wanted to speak of, but that didn't stop Decena from asking.

She leaned towards Olyneces, who was crouched on a nearby crate.

"What were they?" She asked. The old man sighed.

"When a Savior dies, the goddess takes their soul to her paradise. It is what awaits every Savior, and it is the best honor we may recieve."

Decena raised an eyebrow.

"But... If things were that obvious, why would there... Why would there even be any atheists in the world?"

Olyneces shrugged, but Theresa grabbed Decena's shoulder.

"Because some, like myself, don't believe they are deities at all. Merely extremely powerful beings who inhabit a different plane of existence. That doesn't sound nearly as superstitious, doesn't it?"

After a somber burial, they gathered into the remaining two carts.

Truth be told, they didn't even have enough equipment anymore to merit a third.

In the queen's cart, rode Goran, Olyneces, Eliara, Cerena, and Floren, who was given the honor when the queen saw him mourning his friend.

In the back, rode Theresa, Jin, Ker'Tallen, Mariana and Decena.

And although they all kept their eyes on the horizon, Decena could not even begin to remove that image from her memory.

Black skin, winged arms, glowing red eyes.

That beast, the yargoth, was still out there somewhere.

And although she could do nothing about it now, she was certain. She would find it, and she would pay her dues.