The statue of the Knight protects me from the sun with its shadow. Fountains and walls sink into the cracked ground, underground gorges swallow whole houses. Trees of golden fire, once a sign of glory and order, now a mere subconscious imitation of chaos. Spores turn to snow, wood into liquid like water; disorder infests what remains of the district and sacrifices materiality for the lives of its residents.
Disorder. Using the evil one against you is apparently part of my mission. But, if this is true, then there must be something good in chaos. I'm afraid of the answer I'll find if I follow this line of thought, so for now, I let it go. The truth I focus on is using it, even if to protect those who will disappoint me.
They will disappoint, just as I disappointed Elron when I accepted the proposal of The Lion in the Black Forest, when I cowered and chased Aldwyn instead of facing myself; or when I decided to destroy the world in my past life.
They will disappoint. How hypocritical. Disappointment would come from Morgana, as she was insulted at my lack of credulity. Although, knowing the fairy, she would probably understand my position and agree with me. But what would Hoffstein, or Nia, or Wander say?
I inhale and wander my eyes around. I don't have time for that anymore. I still need to find who betrayed us.
In the corner of my vision, a few hundred meters away, I cross the pathetic attempt to hide from my detection. Mana rises from a tunnel, a man coughs soot and inhales the poisonous snow.
“Cloud.”
I launch myself in the air and land next to the boy and stare at him.
“Where were you?”
His eyes tremble, he holds a torn arm. “I delayed them, but they kept coming.” He coughs. “I ran through the canals, but they were already taken. And-so, I returned to the command centers…” He coughs.
I frown. “What were you doing?”
Cloud stares at me. “Spying on the generals, genius! I didn't betray you! I tried to save your ass, you -”
He stops, then watches the heavens. I feel an aura approaching, fast.
“Shit, listen to me! I went to the command centers, the generals sold us out! I found out what they were doing, and they hunted me down! I don't know how many there are or how, but the main one was-”
Light collides with the ground. An armor of purple layers like an onion contrasts with his long hair, black as night. Pointed ears, a serious look accompanies an emerald Blade. The figure rises, imposing.
“Serdin...?” I say.
“Sieghart.” He nods, then frowns. “And you, rat.”
Cloud grinds his teeth. “You-”
“What kind of Lies is he telling you?” The general interrupts. “Now that we have defeated Ent, we need to return to the war outside the city. The barrier has been destroyed, and we are in trouble-”
“Don't believe him!” Cloud says. “This worm was making a deal with Hilda's soldiers! I heard your name during the meetings after the trolls invaded the city! He's not on our side!”
I face Serdin. The man inspires. “Well…”
Blood.
Shock goes up my head, cold goes down my spine. I look down, still incredulous, and stare at the sword go through my stomach. Swift as an arrow, the general turns his weapon and cuts until the blade comes out through my ribs.
Cloud advances, but the general parries the thrust of the spear; Serdin turns and hits the speedster's jaw with the hilt of the weapon, the audible impact mingling with the ringing of my ears. Cloud falls on the rock, fainting.
My legs wobble. It happens quickly. I can't understand it. That's not his power. Even exhausted and injured as I am, I should be able to react. I can't. This-
Hilda.
One second is enough for the action to end. I fall to the ground.
It's fine. I can't regenerate, but I don't have to. I grab the wound and press it, then close my flesh. Useless. I vomit blood, internal organs fail. I breathe toxin, and feel my insides rot. How long did I breathe that?
My vision blurs.
It's OK.
Just me…
Serdin's shadow invades my vision.
“Don't worry, Sieghart. I won't let you die, Hilda wants you alive. I just needed to make sure I couldn't stay conscious.” He says and raises his sword. “I'm sorry.”
***
Protect him.
The words echo every time iniquity tries to steal my peace. Before the acid rain conjured by The Lion, I saw the physical body of the beast die, but I knew that the spirit of chaos would still live. Our first fight had only been a palliative of the challenge he had promised me. He'd come back. With one body, complete in an unholy trinity, just as when you fought my ancestor.
Before the storm that fell upon my feet, the bloody scars that carried with them the hymn of victorious glory, I swore that I would not let evil win. When I found out about his plans to consume his reincarnation without memories, I promised myself that I would protect Sieghart.
So I ignore the images that pass when I close my eyes. I inhale and fix my grip on the gigantic stone blade. Grendel roars, tears spill into his eyes, his limbs broken, and his body sunk into the cold rock. Without another physical threat, he tries to give me reasons to give up my oaths and that, by breaking them, I no longer have the strength to destroy him. It wouldn't work.
The stone sword crashes into the throat and creates a crater in the ground, shattering in the process. Grendel's head rolls across the ground, black blood spreads across the mountain floor. I cannot afford to fail. There's a lot more at stake than me.
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I rest the halberd on my back; the next step is to prevent this same evil, now in the form of the insane fairy, from capturing Sieghart. I climb the wreckage and run through the contaminated bowels of the Earth, ignoring the threat of the forest that tries to swallow me.
Arrive in Solace. Prepare for the Blood Moon. Everything in its due has-
Something's wrong.
I walk through the yellow fog, my eyes pierce its spores and reach the city for miles. Mana. Points of light deep in my consciousness, I feel the approach of dozens of strange auras colliding with Vanusia and then setting sail while manipulating the fairy world. Soldiers. Elves.
Protect him.
I advance, running towards the city at subsonic speed. The air warms up, and the ground breaks around me. I cover kilometers of distance in a few seconds without worrying about the injuries of my body.
It won't be long before I arrive at the gates of Vanusia. Monsters stretch over the walls and try to climb it; the barrier that once protected it from the toxin can no longer be seen. I destroy what lies ahead. Soldiers laugh and celebrate as golden fire purges all malice they fought against. A ray of hope runs through the army, saving allies and destroying enemies.
What happened?
I know the monsters would invade the barrier because of the tunnels, but Hilda didn't create them. There's no reason for Grendel to dig them, and since monsters can't get past the barrier, there's no reason to be suspicious of them either.
No, the tunnels were made by elves, and they were already there before the demon took possession of the mountain, hidden over the tons of rocks. The obvious answer came to me: there is an infiltrator in the upper echelon of the Vanusian Army.
Breaking up the hordes is a job I'll leave for later. For the most part, the monsters have already been contained. No, my real concern is-
“Sieghart!” I scream amid the wreckage of a district. The statue of the Green Knight stretches out, clear, over the chaos. It was a battle the boy won. “Where are you?!”
The soldiers running into the destroyed district finally catch up with me, waving quickly at me before they check on their general. Serdin, in turn, sits on the rest of a statue, staring at its green blade.
Our eyes meet. “Serdin. Where's Sieghart?”
The man waves to his soldiers to indicate his well-being, then inhales. “Hundreds of miles from here.”
“What?!”
Serdin's voice falters. “Hilda's soldiers took him away. In a normal situation, this would not matter to you, but I believe that it will not be so easy to achieve them this time. The Queen's influence was strong on them, so they must have slipped into Hilda's domain again. With each step you take, ten more will be needed to reach them. He will meet her, inevitably. It is your destiny.”
I inhale, squinting my eyes. “Was it you, Serdin, who caused all this?”
Serdin grabs his face and wipes it clean, then coughs; a violent, dry cough, which replaces saliva and blood with dead leaves. He breathes in, then gets up.
“Yes. It was me.”
The soldiers look at each other. “What is happening…?” One of them says. The other frowns. “What are you saying, Serdin?!”
“… The power I borrowed from Hilda was enough to kill me, even if it was used for only a few seconds. But it doesn't matter. I knew I was going to die before you arrived in the city, when I felt my insides becoming roots. The proximity to the Queen Of Spring—or the sickly tumor left over from her—does this. With every encounter I had with his monsters and soldiers, something died inside me.” He settles for himself. “And within my allies, who dug the tunnels to Grendel and helped summon him, too.”
I frown. “You delivered Sieghart. You let the monsters invade the district and destroy the barriers. Innocents were killed. Soldiers. Your friends. Why?”
Serdin wanders his eyes across the floor, trying to find words for his answer.
I advance and press my fingers against the armor of onions, lifting the man into the air. “WHY?!”
Serdin does not try to defend himself. There's nothing left for a dead man to lose. Instead, he just explains.
“Because now that Hilda is with the boy, you will go after her. While you move, she will have enough time to block all the exits that lead to Solace. You will be forced to face her not only to leave, but also to save her ward. You will kill her, and rid us of the tyrant fairy, help those who were denied of their salvation. You'll have to.”
He grinds his teeth, then continues. “We have no allies, Hilda wants the mountains, and thousands of my men would die if I did not act. I sacrificed hundreds to save thousands! I promised that I would do everything to protect them, and I did what was necessary!”
Serdin looks to the heavens, like someone preparing for a strike of mercy. “… I did what was necessary. Even when they died without knowing the reason.”
Quiet.
I drop his armor, and the elf falls to the ground, wobbling to his feet. I lunge at him, punching him in the face. Air bursts on impact, his skull sinks to the ground. Blood spills next to tears, a broken jaw next to his nose.
Protect him.
I face the guards. I open my hand and golden flames spread from it. “Come to me.”
The first soldier swallows it dry and approaches. “I didn't know. We were sent only to-”
“I know. What's your name, son?”
“It's Goiser, Lord.” He prostrates himself. Green hair that looks like leaves, black eyes, woody skin like a tree.
“Goiser and company. You will carry my golden flame to the officers, where they will recognize that it is indeed mine. Tell me what happened here. I'll know if they don't.”
The soldiers settle down. Goiser holds the flame with his hands, but it does not burn him.
The air cools around me. Footsteps reveal themselves from within the dense fog. “In a normal situation, you would be executed for treason, and I believe that your death from illness is just for someone like you. Perhaps you could use his pain as atonement, or repent before the final destination.”
“…W-wha…” He tries to say, but the fracture in his jaw does not allow it. Instead, he widens his eyes to the right, where the dense white mist grows and curls like a dress around a woman.
“But I hope you have already done so, because this is not a normal situation. You're already dead.”
Morgana faces the general. Ice sails through the air at high speed and crosses Serdin's stomach. Sapphire blue eyes glow in hatred. She raises her hand and closes it, frozen fragments scatter over the elf's body and pierce it from the inside out. Crystals grow like roots, bones break, flesh writhes, skin burns coldly.
Steam covers Serdin's remains, but it's not enough to hide the brutality of the scene. The only reason for his quick death is that I am here. Still, the process took longer than expected. He was still alive when it ended. She knew.
The fairy exhales, her black dress covering her pale, almost translucent skin. I frown, my funeral expression is visible, but irrelevant.
I turn to the soldiers. “Go.”
They settle down in shock, then start running towards the wall, following a path that avoids the already dying monsters.
I turn to the fairy. She faces Serdin with a closed and disinterested countenance. Just like her words, her expressions have never been easy to decipher. I believe this is the real Morgana, when she doesn't have to make a point of joking.
“… You were right to leave him to die. Thanks. What's with your face? Not happy?” She says.
“… Happy? There's no reason to be happy.”
“Revenge is a part of Justice. At least, it was, before you changed the nomenclature to try to separate them. Are you not happy that the proper punishment has been meted out?”
“I'm unhappy that I had to allow this to happen in the first place. Angry at the betrayal of a general. Saddened by the deaths of hundreds. Someone needs to be.”
“What are you implying by this?”
“Don't confuse my words, I am not your enemy. What your sisters have done to you is priceless. I just pray that there will be no unnecessary suffering. Still, I must say, you do not seem satisfied.”
“No. I will only be satisfied when my Sieghart is by my side again. Until then…”
I breathe in. “… Morgana, I know you care about the boy enough not to put him in danger. Still, I must ask: Did you plan this?”
Morgana raises her chin, looking at the macabre statue she had made. “I was harsh in judging you, Hoffstein. You have a good heart, and you are right to distrust me. But, no, I'm not responsible for any of that. I never wanted Sieghart captured. Quite the contrary, for a brief moment, I thought that I could leave my past behind just this once, so that the boy would be safe. I was wrong.”
The fairy settles to herself, her form dissolving into mist and returning to the wind. “As long as the other queens exist, I cannot exist in peace. It does not matter to me whether I am justified or not; but heaven cries out for vengeance against Hilda this time, and I will execute their will. No, for her transgression, I will do ten-a hundred times-worse than she deserves.”
A laugh echoes through the air and mixes with the toxin, freezing the rest of the spores that are still left in the skies. “And I will cherish it.”
I clench my fists. In silence, I pray that I don't either. I build up the strength in my legs, then look up at the sky and jump towards Hilda's soldiers.
