“So how are you going to get his attention exactly? He never answers your call normally. It's almost embarrassing, at least I make the effort to keep you company.” The Jester remarked.
“Much to my frustration,” Angelica had her hand to her temple, trying to think of what to say to the man, “He won’t answer my call, but once I mention the axe I think he’ll answer.”
She actually didn’t know at all. That man confused her to no end. He had been more than friendly to her in life, but in death he wanted nothing to do with her. Even if she mentioned the strange weapon he might not respond.
The Jester put a hand to his chin, “What will you do if he doesn’t answer? I would always be glad to drag him out by force.”
Angelica raised her brow in interest, “Could you really do that.”
The Jester shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, I've never tried.”
Just as Angelica started to seriously consider the possibility, she shook her head. It probably wouldn’t work and any attempt at doing, so would eliminate the chance of the man speaking to her, not to mention appear.
She looked back to the floor and twiddled her thumbs, what could she possibly say to convince him to help her? She didn’t even know why he didn’t in the first place. As she.
Anyway, they were just lucky that Tanthia was wise enough to hide the stranger in the private room. It was actually a part of her own living quarters on the second story of the clinic. Well, that would technically make it the guest room, but the woman hardly had any guests. Her husband had died when the village was attacked years ago, and her two of her sons ran away right afterwards, and many had given up on their coming back, but not Tanthia.
Angelica looked around. The living quarter was relatively small. It had two small rooms. One for Tanthia and one for her young son. There was an even smaller kitchen that both rooms opened into, and then a small nook with a fireplace next to it. Angelica looked at it from the short hallway that led to a small closet and the guest room.
Out of boredom Angelica tried looking in the closet, but found it locked for some reason. She would ask why that was the case, but she had asked much of Tanthia, and asking more would likely have her thrown out. Tanthia was one of the only ones in the village who still treated Angelica like a child, despite her position.
She was dragged out of her thoughts by the sound of a creaking door.
“Is he asleep yet?” Angelica asked.
Tanthia was slowly closing the door behind her, “Yes, and he shouldn’t wake up for a while. The dosage of Yerle that I used was actually quite dangerous. Even a bear wouldn’t for at least an hour or so,” Tanthia said wryly.
Angelica furrowed her brow in irritation “I had to make sure he wouldn’t wake up. Who knows what he would do if I tried to even touch the thing while he was awake. Did you see how he was looking at it? Anyway you listen to me so why are you complaining?”
“Just because I listened to you, doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.”
“Angelica gave out a sigh, “So I’m good to go in then?”
Tanthia gave a mocking bow, “He’s all yours my holiness.”
Angelica clenched her fist as she walked by the women. This was no way to treat her, but what could she do about it?
The Jester didn’t see it that way, “Finally! Someone who gives you the proper amount of respect! We should make everyone do the same thing, now wouldn’t that be great, my lady.” He believed wholeheartedly in what he was saying.
Angelica was about to respond when what greeted her in the room threw her off guard.
It was the same as when she left it. The man was laying sound asleep on the bed with medical ointments and gauzes on his nightstand, but a figure now was hunched over the axe.
“How? Why…” Angelica let out in surprise
“You don’t have to be so surprised. When confronted with such a thing it's only natural for a priest to be curious, isn’t that right Charastro?” The man turned his head to Angelica, revealing a mask of a cross.
“Where are you in here the whole time?” Angelica said, still in shock.
“Naturally,” The Priest went back to examining the axe.
“So… did you… hear everything I said?” Angelica internally fretted over the answer she would get.
The Jester interjected, absolutely baffled, “My lady, why are you so timid all of a sudden!? Such demeanor is unacceptable, especially towards your servant!”
The priest let out a chuckle, “‘Why so timid? Because she’s a mere girl! The fact that you even worried over how you would call upon me is absurd because I would never obey your commands.”
Angelica was taken aback, his words hurt, especially coming from him, “Charast…”
The Priest spun around with a cold fury, “Don’t you dare mock me with that name. I still have my dignity.”
Angelica grinded her teeth and clenched her fist. He had no right to treat her that way. She was his master. No, no one had the right to treat someone of her rank that way.
“Don’t you dare treat me like that. I am your master, a saint, and the one giving you a second chance.” Her words held venom.
“I never wanted this position Alesria! You shouldn’t have been raised at the age you were. Just look at you! Forever trapped in a child’s body, it's pitiable. Not to mention you were only raised to a saint because of your blessing. You weren’t ready!”
“Then why did you have to go and die, Leren?!”
“You think I wanted to!”
There was a hollow silence that filled the room, and the two’s outburst had made The Jester withdraw, but place a hand on his spear.
The Priest silently went back to the axe, “Why did you even need my help with this Charastro.”
There was still tension in the room, and the two went about their conversation on precarious footing. However, the two’s common interest in the axe coerced them into conversing.
“Why wouldn’t I? It shouldn’t exist. Its very existence is blasphemy to the world.”
“And why would that be?” The Priest had obviously reached his own conclusion, but wanted Angelica to meet her own.
She sighed in annoyance after realizing this, but she had grown used to this sort of treatment from him, “The head of the weapon appears to be a holy relic, but the handle is inscribed with pagan runed. Those two aspects directly conflict with each other. It's against the fundamental laws of the world to attach the two items together. It's like a flame illuminating the ocean’s abyss.”
The Priest nodded slowly to himself, “More or less.”
“Do you know anything that could have made it?”
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“No, like you said, it should be impossible. To find an explanation for it you would have to dive into the realm of children’s stories, and we both aren’t willing to waste our time on such things. However…”
“However?”
The Priest took on a cold demeanor and the shadows in the room seemed to come alive, “We’ve both seen an individual who was able to manipulate the world to their will.”
Angelica gave a sideway glance to the axe which now gave off a dark and malicious aurora, “You aren’t implying it was him.”
“I don’t know how much you remember from the night, being that you were so young, but I do not wish such a thing to happen to anyone, and if this axe is his then its best to get rid of it. We can’t afford to gain his attention. No one can.”
Angelica didn’t remember much from the night thirteen years ago, only flashes, but those flashes of the man’s broad grin were enough to give her nightmares. The sheer thought of gaining that man’s attention sent a shiver through her spine.
Angelica shook her head with disappointment,“I guess we’ll just have to try and ask that man more when he wakes up.”
The Priest perked up, “Who is he?”
“Someone very interesting…very interesting.” The appearance of an unnatural
calm and cool voice elicited a shriek from The Jester, and even made Angelica jump.
All eyes turned to the source of the cold voice. It belonged to a figure clad in worn leather armor with a crossbow on its back, hunching over the stranger while somehow keeping its balance on the bed's headboard.
“What are you doing here? I thought I made you watch over the altar.” Angelica
let out
The figure turned its head around, revealing a pure black mask, “I was curious as to what had kept your attention for so long now. Of course I’ve also heard rumors around town, so I had to see the man for myself.”
Angelica furrowed her brow at The Rogue, “Oh? Finally taking some initiative. It takes all I have to just get you to do something, but here you are looking at this man with no orders once so ever. I just told you to watch over a simple book. I would have thought that you would be willing to carry out such an easy task.”
“At least I appear.”
The Priest shook his head furiously, “Hmph! Can’t even control your servants. I knew you weren’t ready to be raised. You haven’t grown at all since I died, haven’t you?”
The Jester went beyond the The Priest scorn, to the point of fury, “How dare you treat our master that way! You have no right! She is our redeemer, our angel, our guiding light!”
“Fool.”
Angelica was honestly irritated by both of the spectre’s behaviors, but she thought that scolding them would get her nowhere. It would actually make The Priest worse. However, something that The Rogue said caught her attention.
“You said he was interesting, but you haven’t seen him before now, so how would you know?”
The Rogue gave out a cool chuckle, “Oh, I’ve seen him before, in Verli.”
Angelica had to blink a few times until she properly understood his words
Verli
The town Heaven’s Bane was last seen in.
“Tell me everything now. Don’t leave anything out like you must have earlier when you told me. Everything. Understand?” Angelica said in an indifferent tone.
The Rogue nodded, “Well I was following the thing for a while at that point. Wasn’t hard either, with how big it was. I didn’t see any sign of life until it arrived at Verli. I swear that thing was unstoppable. Buildings were just annoyances to this thing, and it breathed a green fire that couldn’t be put out no matter how long one may try. The townspeople couldn’t even pierce its hide.
The Priest jerked his head around to The Rogue, “Wait how have I not heard about this?”
“You were dead.” Angelica put in bitterly.
“No Charastro you don’t understand. Be sure to let someone finish before you say something. I’m trying to say that how did I not know that such an incredible beast existed? How did it appear?”
“That’s what everyone’s been trying to figure out,” Angelica shrugged
With that, The Priest started mumbling to himself, and Angelica prompted The Rogue to continue.
“When I was in the middle of praying for the town, a miracle happened. A light shone. Brighter than even the sun, and consumed the beast. I couldn’t believe it.”
Angelica thought back to the two days before when a blinding light glared up in the horizon for a brief instant. Many of the inhabitants of the area considered it an act of God and rushed to her for answers she didn’t have at the cost of her peace of mind. She had no idea what the light was and The Rogue’s account made it only more confusing, but she had heard this already.
“So why do you find this man right here interesting?”
The Rogue looked into Angelica’s eyes.
“Well, I naturally went to inspect what had happened to the beast, which at that point I considered impossible to kill, but everyone in the town was dead, and barely any of the buildings were left standing. The only thing in the whole village was a man.” The Rogue’s eyes went to the axe, leaning against the wall, “A man using an axe as a cane.”
Angelica gave an uneasy glance to the man sleeping peacefully on the bed, “I see what you mean by interesting. Anything else?”
The Rogue gave a slow nod, “He saw me.”
“Imposible,” Angelica let out, her mouth full of chalk.
“Yet what I say is true,” The Rogue looked back at Angelica, revealing a glimpse of a disgustingly burnt neck and a pitch black mask, “He looked straight into my eyes and he…chuckled.”
Angelica looked towards the man who lay on the bed and suddenly he took on a dark aura about him. She was forced to take a step back, “He chuckled? At you? It must have been an act. A man knowing he was about to die laughing at his fate. It has to be…”
“Dear lord, Charastro, no need to be so morbid,” The Priest now was fixated on the man in the bed. He stared at him with the same intensity as he did the axe.
The Rogue shook his head slowly and turned back to the man, “No…if he feared me, even if he feared me but didn’t know it, his life would cease to exist. Yet here he is, and still I remain over him, but he sleeps like a baby.”
The Jester gave a ridiculing laugh, “Nonsense we’re ghost you idiot. No one can tell where we are except our lady. Besides with that big ego of yours I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t actually laughing at you. Right, my lady?”
Angelica ignored The Jester as she mumbled to herself about different possibilities.
The Priest looked towards the corner of the room where a small pile of worn and broken armour sat, and moved closer to the man, “I take it he is a warrior then?”
“Mmm?” The Rogue's voice sounded like a cold and damp wind, “That much should be obvious shouldn’t it?”
“And he was the only living thing left in that village?”
The Rogue nodded his head, and from the tone of his voice he was amused, “So you have come to the same conclusion then? I must admit though it was easier for you, since you’ve never seen that damn beast before.”
“Good I’d haven’t. Men usually fear more than they should. I’m sure this Heaven’s Bane was an instance of this.”
Angelica’s eyes went wide with realization, “You’re not saying that this man killed it. That’s impossible.”
The Priest shrugged and went on in a prideful tone, “Well it’s not and this man did it with one strike from that abomination over there,” he gestured to the axe, “What’s like look for? Is it really so hard to believe?”
Angelica looked at him with disbelief at his ignorance, prompting a laugh from The Jester.
“Priest that thing slaughtered Vindexs.” Angelica said
The Priest paused for a moment, “Vindexs?” He put a special emphasis on the “s”
Angelica nodded slowly.
The priest moved with surprising speed towards Angelica and grasped her shoulders, “From which countries?”
“A small country from the south and Melgon.”
“Melgon’s Vindex was slaughtered by it. I heard that man could destroy armys with the flick of his wrist.”
The Priest started to tremble when he looked back at the man, “None of us here are warriors, so we cannot see how much of a threat this man is. Angelica summon your Knight.”
Angelica slowly peeled the priest's hands from her shoulder, “I can’t.”
“What do you mean you can’t?” The Priest said with venom
Before Angelica could say anything, The Jester pushed himself between them, “Remember your place servant. We wouldn’t want to anger our lady.”
The Priest stared silently at Angelica as the air and the room seemed to freeze, before he finally broke off, and went back to studying the axe.
The Rogue jumped off the bed and faced Angelica. He was taller than her but not by much. Angelica inched away at his approach as whenever he came near a chill followed.
“I had something else to report to you Charastro.”
Angelica raised her brow in curiosity.
“There’s a man prowling around the altar. I would have killed him, but I thought that would have been…inconvenient for you.”
Angelica went rigid with the servant's report, “What did this man look like?”
“Rather small and weak, but he was dressed for a palace.”
Angelica almost knocked down the door as she ran out, “I swear I don’t care about The Wolf. I’ll kill Nalenco if he crosses that line.”