After a bit more back and forth, it started to sink in that Emeri had, in fact, followed through on her initial plan and raided the small church, despite the fact that I had warned her not to.

“What were you thinking, Emeri? You knew that church was being closely watched!”

“I could ask you the same, Arthur! Why did you decide to explore those ruins, even when I made it very clear that something about that whole situation was fishy?”

Just as we were about to start butting heads again, one of Dalius’ underlings came between us.

“Can you two leave the argument for later? We’re kind of in the middle of something, at the moment…”

Emeri and I both turned to him in protest, but were cut off by another rumble, emphasizing his point. The building was about to collapse, I knew. Whatever magic had held it mostly upright for the last little while was clearly starting to falter, its fuel becoming exhausted. With a shared glare, Emeri and I came to the unspoken agreement to leave each other alone for now and focus on our escape.

“What’s the plan?” I asked, directing my question at the violet witch that served as a lieutenant in Dalius’ forces. Somehow, she wasn’t at all shaken by my earlier attempt at her life, because her response was cheerful as can be.

“There is none!” she said with a big smile.

“…There isn’t?”

“Nope!” she reiterated with a proud smile. I sighed, disappointed in myself for not having seen this coming. Then again, with the inquisitor tied up by Dalius, we wouldn’t have a difficult time getting out of the prison anyway. There wasn’t any real need for a plan anymore.

“Let’s just get out of here…” I responded, defeated.

“But I wanna fight more guards! Think of how rare an opportunity this is!” the supposed ‘lieutenant’ replied. I just shook my head, unwilling to grace her attitude with a reply. While I liked a good fight as much as the next classer, I had had more than enough of this solemn catacomb of a prison for a lifetime.

In the end, the lieutenant had to be physically dragged along by her subordinates, because she was unwilling to ‘run away’, as she put it. Thankfully she didn’t slow us down too much, though, because a few minutes later we reached one of the prison’s outer edges, only to discover that the prison had been located on the coast all along.

I discovered that the prison had been built on top of a small peninsula that was just barely large enough to house the complex. On all sides except one, the ground cut off and transformed into a cliffside that sunk into the black sea below. The sharp rocks that jutted out of the roiling waves down there spoke of a painful death for anyone that fell off the side.

Unfortunately, the only side connected to dry land was currently occupied by two incensed tier 5 classers, Dalius and the inquisitor. It was hard to make out who was winning with all the blinding flashes of light and dust clouds that their every clash and skill left behind, but it was clear that neither had run out of steam yet. Our escape would have to take another route… While Emeri and I could emulate flight through our movement skills, slow thought it may be, the rest of Dalius’ goons couldn’t. For a moment, I considered the idea of going through the water after all…

Suddenly, a purple light appeared a few meters away from us. I recoiled, expecting an attack, but watched in fascination as, instead, the purple light expanded into a ring. The inside of the ring was like a painting of a stone chamber, dull light filtering in from a crack in the chamber’s dome-shaped roof. Four stone columns held it up, and a number of people scurried through the painting from one side to the other, as if alive. Wait, what? A moving painting?

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Without hesitation, Dalius’ goons walked up to the ring and stepped into it, disappearing in a flash, and even Emeri followed them. Soon enough, I was the only one left. Not willing to be left behind, I clenched my teeth and did as the others had, approaching the painting. Then, in a purple flash, I was gone.

When I next opened my eyes, I found myself in the same stone chamber I had seen on the painting, though this one looked real rather than… well, ‘painted’.

“That was a teleportation device?” I murmured in wonder, having heard how rare these things were. How in the hells did Dalius have access to one?

“A skill, actually.” Emeri suddenly replied, walking up to me. “Apparently, someone in camp can create them, though no one knows who. Dalius is really touchy about the subject, so don’t ask.

“Ah, is that so… That’s how you got into that church, isn’t it?” Emeri sighed and grabbed my arm. She pulled me along into a small side-chamber that she had clearly fashioned into her personal room and sat me down on her bed, closing the door behind her.

“Listen, can we just drop the argument? Just accept that this mission is important to me and that I can do it on my own. I will do it, and that’s final!”

“Alright. I’ll help you.”

“Stop argui- wait what? You’ll help me?” she responded, not having expected the sudden change in attitude.

“Sure. I don’t really care about Helios’ life story, but I can hardly leave you to do it alone, can I? Besides, we’re already too deep in to pull out now. We’ve nothing left to lose.”

“But… what about the church? Roa won’t be able to protect you, even if you return there, you know? While Roa has more tier 6 classers than Alterian, the pope is tier 7!”

“Yeah, about that… Let’s just say I know some people. It won’t escalate to that level, I promise.”

Emeri nodded hesitantly, though it looked like she wasn’t sure whether or not to believe me. Oh well. It wasn’t like I had lied, either. If worse came to worse, the between lands would harbor me as long as necessary. I only hoped that the pope would start a fight with the dry man. If things did escalate, the entire continent would stand at risk of turning into a warzone.

“So… did you get another vision?” I asked after a while, breaking the comfortable silence. My shy companion perked up, and regaled upon me another tale of sunny, the young boy we had encountered in the previous vision. Apparently, the statue this time had depicted another heroic incarnation of Helios, fighting off hoards and hoards of zombies.

Sunny, the actual form of Helios, meanwhile, told a different story. Apparently, sunny had ended up in a new town after his escape from the burned village and the subsequent death of his protector at the time. In this town, he had received a warm welcome from the matron that owned the local inn. She took sunny under her wing, despite the fact that the boy was mute, and set him to work waiting tables. A few years passed in peace, and sunny learned to accept that peace, as well as what had happened to him when he was younger.

Unfortunately, his new home, too, would be faced with a crisis. One day, the town was beset by a hoard of zombies, created by a cult that had hidden themselves in the sewers. Those dear to him were slain within moments, and the matron sacrificed herself to save sunny from a zombie that had hidden itself in the rafters of the inn. Her death gave sunny the time to escape, but also reignited his desire for vengeance.

Sunny had grown up a bit by now, and was capable of wielding weapons. More importantly, he knew how to set traps and had turned the entire town and sewer area into a deadly maze after the zombie epidemic, trapping the foul creatures and the creators inside of their own filth.

From there, he had waited it out, until he confirmed the deaths of all zombies and cult members, before heading back onto the path, in search of yet another home.

After the vision, the heroic statue was replaced by a depiction of an older lady, spreading her arms wide in protection of an indistinct, cowering figure behind her. It honoured the memory of the matron, Emeri supposed.

“Do you understand now? Helios is trying to show me, no, all of us who he really was, the kind of life he lived! There are three more churches that each hold a statue, so there must be three more visions! With Dalius’ help, it could be possible for us to activate them all, turning Helios’ statues into what he wants them to depict!”

I nodded, but didn’t reply. It still seemed a little strange, to me. Why would Helios want to share his life with us all, after all this time? Why now? Why us? So many questions remained unanswered. Hopefully, the statues held those answers. More pressingly, I still hadn’t had the time to inspect the black orb I had found in the ruins a while ago. Maybe now I could take the time…

Suddenly, Emeri’s door opened and one of Dalius’ people peeked his head inside.

“You two! Dalius had returned! He wants to meet you both!”

I sighed. The orb would have to wait a little while longer…