Chapter 51 Take Them.
“I tried to save you.” Edward told the older warrior who was actively bleeding out without reacting. “If you would have hit her with that he would have killed the pope to keep her from resurrecting you.” The poor acolyte who was trying to save Fable was shaking as she tried to close the open wound so that Fable wouldn’t die while she listened to their conversation.
“What was that?” Fable questioned as Isaac and Lenna finally walked around the corner and out of sight.
“Death flames and shadows, I believe, that’s what I have been told anyway.” Edward enlightened him. “You would have a better idea of it than me. You’re the spellblade.”
“Why didn’t the court mage show up?” Fable continued interrogating Edward.
“He’s used to it. I am almost certain that he has that man’s mana signature marked as a natural event in the detection array.” Edward explained. Fable slowly sat down on the bloody sand. The blood loss was taking its toll but at least it wasn’t pouring out all over the place anymore. “Sit tight. I’ll go get her.” Edward told Fable and left to go find the maximum level cleric Fable had brought along. Most of those at the top knew each other quite well. There were those who decided to settle down and become Guild Masters and there were those who chased after demigods as if it was an attainable goal.
Esk watched as the Guild Master left before approaching his master. “Master, what happened?” He questioned. He had never seen Fable get injured. He couldn’t remember ever seeing the old man’s blood before and he had sparred with people like the Blade Master. None of them had ever landed a hit and in an instant, one of the old man’s arms was sliding out of his sleeve to whack limply onto the sand.
“Eskahno, stay away from them.” Fable told his apprentice. “I won’t be resurrecting you again if you get killed by them.”
Esk swallowed hard. To be fair, he hadn’t expected to get resurrected in the first place. He had never really considered dying. He had survived hundreds of battles and plenty of those had been near death experiences but Esk had never stopped feeling immortal. He didn’t feel immortal anymore. “Yes sir. You still didn’t explain what happened. What did he do to you?”
Fable shook his head. “I don’t know.” His focused expression softened slightly as he had an idea. A horrible idea but an idea. He smirked. “But I might know how to find out.”
—
Isaac closed the door to their room behind Lenna and turned around. She was already struggling with all the straps and buttons holding her armor together. Isaac decided to try something he had thought about but never really tried. He grabbed onto his armor and pushed it forwards even though it was still on him. He walked forward through the invisible Inventory screen and the armor piece he was holding onto vanished. ‘That could have been better.’ He thought. He was really hoping that the entire set would vanish as he was imagining it as one piece but his demi-gauntlets and shin-guards were not connected to the rest of it directly. He took the rest of his armor off regularly before turning to look at Lenna. They hadn’t said a word in the time that they had been back.
Lenna dropped the last piece of her armor into the pile on the floor. She felt more tired than she had ever felt before. It was a tiredness that wasn’t natural and it wasn’t something Isaac’s magic could wash away. She just wanted to sleep, maybe for days, maybe for years. She flopped face first onto bed longways. Her boots were still on and her legs from the knees down were hanging off the side of the bed. “Isaac.” She whispered his name.
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“Yes.” He replied and walked over to her. He grabbed one of her feet and bent her leg completely so he could see the laces of her boot. He slowly started taking them off while waiting for her to respond.
“Am I… weak?” She asked him. She sounded like she felt small. She suddenly didn’t feel like a three century old ancient warrior anymore. She felt like a lost princess in a foreign land who was just beaten at the thing that she was best at.
“No.” Isaac replied simply. When she didn’t reply for a long few seconds he continued: “Is a horse weak just because an ox can pull more weight?” He questioned her. “Is the ox small because a bison is bigger?” He shook his head. He could see her one eye looking at him from its half buried position in the soft blankets. “It’s all just perspective, Lenna. You have seven more levels to go. Fight him again then.”
“I tried so hard.” Lenna whispered.
“I know.” Isaac comforted her. He tossed both of her boots into the corner of the room and sat on the bed next to her. He put a hand on her back.
“I wasn’t strong enough.” She continued. It was now time to let out all of those feelings she had bottled up and buried.
“I know.” Isaac said again and rubbed her back as he felt her shudder. “Let it out, Lenna. You are allowed to cry.” With those words the final dregs of whatever was still holding Lenna together snapped.
—
“Do you feel better?” Isaac asked Lenna when she woke up. Her eyes were itchy and she was still laying on the bottom half of the bed with bloody clothes on and blood on her face and neck.
“Yes.” She replied hoarsely. “I think.” She said while sitting up. Her head was pounding from the movement. The blanket Isaac had thrown over her fell as she looked around the room. She finally got her bearings and decided that she needed a bath. “That was embarrassing.”
Isaac shook his head and looked up from his book at her. “No it wasn’t.” He told her. “It was natural. It was something you needed to do fifty years ago.” He said, seeing right through her. “You put it off for too long and it tried to devour you from the inside out.”
Lenna nodded as she slowly got to her feet. “Should I, have just forgiven him and move on?” Lenna asked. She felt like she should have. She knew that they were just on opposing sides of a war. Casualties happen in war. She also knew that it was half of a human’s lifetime ago. It wasn’t surprising that he didn’t remember her. They were both very different people back then anyway.
“I don’t know.” Isaac replied honestly. “Maybe, probably, but I can’t tell you for sure either way.”
“That’s unhelpful.” Lenna told him. She cracked a smirk at using what he said to her back at him. She knew that she deserved the comment most of the time when he said it but it still felt good to use it on him.
Isaac chuckled. “I know.” He gave her a warm smile. “Lenna,”
“Hm?” She responded.
“We are all just people finding our own path through the journey of life. What may be a right decision for you could be a wrong one for me.” He began. “I know that I wouldn’t have forgiven him but I am an unsympathetic, cold hearted, petty bastard. I probably would have killed him in his sleep if I knew that he was stronger than me.” He shook his head. “But you are not me. You have a warm heart that is capable of forgiveness. For you, it would probably be for the best if you forgave him and moved on. If you let the memories of your fallen friends stay bittersweet in your mind instead of painting over them with pain and bloodshed. But again, I am not you. The choice of what to do is ultimately yours and we may never know what the right choice is.”
Lenna’s eyes hadn’t left him as he spoke even though his eyes were looking up in thought. “I’ll think on it.” She promised him.
Isaac looked down and met her gaze. He gave her a warm smile. “Alright. Let me know what you decide in the end.” He told her.
Lenna nodded. “I will.” She assured him. “But right now I need to get rid of all this blood.”
—
“Okay Alice we’re lea… v… ing.” Isaac slowly drug out the final word as he noticed the small army gathered in the area just in front of and off to the side of Alice’s desk. “What’s going on here?” He questioned. Esk and his entire team as well as Edward and Fable were gathered. Fable had his arm reattached, no small thanks to Isaac removing a chunk of it the size of his fist, and was resting his hand on his sword’s pommel.
“They want to go with you.” Edward told Isaac. Isaac just blinked at him and then slowly panned his gaze over the rest of the room. Every face he met nodded as their eyes met save for two. Esk averted his gaze and Fable just locked eyes with him, neither one wanted to be the first to blink or look away. “And I want you to take them.”