He always asked himself the same thing over and over.
How long? How long ago was he able to shout out his feelings? How long ago was he able to close his eyes peacefully? How long until there was a hand he could trust and pull him from the depths of despair?
People from different race looked for him. A new group would appear in every few days, begging him to save their country. Every time he refused to help, they criticized and ignored his reasoning. Some went as far to try and kidnap him from this place. They all looked at the Oracle and not him. They treated him not as another person, but as a tool.
Over time, his view of the world changed and looked at it with disgust. From that day, he became a living corpse. He sealed away his feelings, then his personality and lastly, his will. The ‘Kihet’ who was naïve, idiotic, self-sacrificing and eccentric was on the verge of disappearing forever.
In this seemingly everlasting nightmare, one voice forced its way into his heart. At first, he thought it was the same thing everyone repeated; nonsense, honeyed words to trick his trust. Once she caught him in her arms and whispered praises for just being himself, he realized there was someone that didn’t care if he was the Oracle.
Praises for just enduring. Praises for just living. The words of gratitude cracked the hard shell manifested through isolation for many years.
When she embraced him, a soothing warmth rekindled his will to live. There was nothing he could do other than submitting to her kindness. This was the safest he felt in forever. This blissful and fuzzy feeling of being cared by someone, was something he wanted. How long ago was it since he felt this feeling?
-And… soft?-
Something soft pressed against his face. He couldn’t describe the feeling, but it smelled nice and the sound of a beating heart calmed him.
He carefully moved away and got a good view at the girl sleeping beside him. Her silky long jet black hair was all over the place. The bracelet was still on her wrist, torn and repaired by mismatched colored threads. She slept with childish grin only to remind him of the happy child she used to be.
It was simply nostalgic.
“Up from your beauty nap?”
The voice had caught Kihet off guard. He immediately put himself in front of Lily when Henrick called.
“I saw you were in a good mood and decided to pop by. It was nice to know you didn’t kill this group of visitors for once. Is the girl beside you that special?”
Kihet nodded.
“That makes sense! Nobody would trust strangers. That’s why you killed everyone you didn’t know. All those lives begging you to save them and you just destroyed their dreams and threw them down a cliff. You mur-der-er~.”
He remained silent and glared at Henrick.
“It’s a joke. A joke. Anyways, I’ll leave you two alone. She’ll think you’re weird if you keep talking to me. Ciao!” Henrick phased through the tent.
He felt a tug on his sleeve and was greeted by a half-asleep Lily barely opening her eyes.
“Morning…zzz…”
“Lily. Up.”
“Few more minutes.”
And she went back to sleep.
Using this chance, Kihet brushed her hair and examined her horns. One was broken from a long ago but the other was well taken care of. It was as polished as a gleaming ruby gem.
“Excuse me-.”
Sensing the curtains moved, Kihet tackled the suspect lifting the covers. He raised his fist and stopped inches from the person’s face just as he screamed.
“WHHHAAAA, wait, wait, wait! Don’t hurt us! We’re with the Priestess!”
It rang a bell. Kihet remembered Shiba mention Lily was a Priestess since Xu had a tradition for females of the Royal Family being unable to inherit the throne.
There were about six soldiers in the area. The group was mixed with Devils and Ogres. The only difference was the type of horn on their forehead. Ogres have their horns under their skin while Devils have horns resembling a blood crystal. All of them have one horn as opposed to Lily who had two, though one was half broken.
They were in the middle of distributing rations, but since Kihet caused a commotion, he became the center of attention.
He released the soldier and watched him run off.
“Kihet… morning.”
Lily crawled out of the tent. Without her armor, she wore black tights clinging her body like a cocoon. There were openings that exposed her stomach and the skin of her shoulders. Her hair was frisky. She rubbed her eyes then her long ears slowly perked up when she looked at Kihet.
“I was a bit scared, but I’m happy you were able to let loose last night. I could barely sleep because of you.”
Ignoring the soldiers’ glare, Kihet pointed at the cooking station.
“Oh, food? I’m hungry too. Grab one for me, please.”
They were served watery soup made from dried beans and meat from Oriks, the boar-wolf hybrid creatures. Kihet was surprised they knew which parts of the Oriks were edible. Well, it wasn’t difficult to tell, but the rest of the materials could’ve been made into useful items. He thought it was a shame they drained and threw out the blood. Only the thighs were taken as other parts were too hard.
The soup was warm, but there wasn’t a lick of flavor. His stomach couldn’t argue since it was nice to have something warm flowing through the body.
“Where are you going?”
“Want.”
“That hatchet?”
He pried the hatchet off a trunk and moved over to the carcasses. He raised the axe and put on a murderous expression, cleaving down. When he butchered and ripped out the innards, soldiers behind him shrieked in terror as if they witnessed a madman.
He scraped out the bubbly fat and carved his knife underneath the fur. He separated entrails into a pot, moved the bones in a pile, claws and fangs in a bowl.
“Here.”
No one listened. They were more focused holding back the urge to vomit over their breakfast. Lily also put on a similar face.
“Kihet, you have to think of the time and place. You can’t act out like that. Ugh… I think you made me lose my appetite.”
He looked at her weirdly, gulping the rest of the food like it was normal and asked for seconds. He was the only one who managed to complete breakfast.
By this time, they packed up their belongings. They checked their equipment, sharpened their swords, fixed the dents on their shields, wounded the strings of their bows. Their equipment was worn, no better than mismatched pieces Kihet salvaged from past visitors.
He sat alone in a corner until Lily squatted in front of him.
“Kihet, I’m sorry but I need you to come back with us. The world needs you.”
The duty of the Oracle. His job was to recruit seven heroes around the world to defeat those Shadows, like the Knight, Wizard and the Executor.
He was afraid to leave, but he couldn’t bring himself to upright refuse to help Lily.
Lily waited for his response. Her hand still extended to him. Her big emerald eyes looked at him with big expectations. She retained the same blooming smile on her face that brought him out of despair.
Kihet subconsciously reached out without knowing. He pulled his fingers touched her palm, but he tried again like a frightened tiny animal. She had a ‘take your time, I’ll wait forever for you’ expression. When he eventually put his hand on hers, her fingers gently wrap over his hand and pulled him up. He felt the different textures of their skin. His hands were rough and dry while hers were smooth and soft. It was like their roles reversed since the time he first met her.
She squeezed his hand. “I’m really happy right now.”
Although he appeared unfazed with his iron masked expression, he was completely lost for words. While he tried to form words to show his gratitude, Lily was called to check the area the soldiers cleaned up.
“We’ve finished packing, Priestess. We can return to the palace on your orders.”
“Xu…?” Kihet asked.
“That’s right. We’ll be going to Xu. Before that, I’d like to investigate that tower. There’s one in every country.”
-One in every country? I don’t remember seeing one in Xu or Rozzosea. You would think I’d notice a big spiraling structure in the middle of nowhere.-
“Is there anything you need before we go?”
“Promise.”
“Promise?”
To fulfill one of his promise, he strode to the edge of the graveyard holding an old shovel.
Lily exchanged looks with her soldiers as they wondered about Kihet’s promise. When they reached him, there was a pile of dirt next to an empty tombstone as he dug deeper and deeper until it hit a solid object.
Kihet grunted and tossed the leather pouch into Lily’s hands. He made small gestures for her to open it.
“This is the promise?” She rummaged through the bag, slowly feeling its shape. While carefully pulling it out, tears voluntarily welled up. “This… is the Royal Crown?”
“Royal Crown?!” Her soldiers exclaimed.
“Shiba…”
“My brother…? You kept it for my brother?”
“Sorry.”
Lily hugged the crown tightly, wiping the stream of tears off her face. She took a deep breath, collected herself, then put on a strong face examining the crown with a hopeful smile.
“No. Don’t say that. You kept it safe for my brother for all these years. You don’t need to apologize.”
“But…”
“I do regret I couldn’t spend more time with him, but this is my brother we’re talking about. He trusted you, knowing you’re essential to the world. In the end, he was able to make the Devils and Ogres cooperate and gave us a fighting chance to survive after the Shadows first wandered across Xu’s lands.”
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Kihet was envious of Shiba. Even years after his death, Shiba’s actions carried on and reached his people. Shiba’s effort weren’t completely in vain.
“With this, we know Eizan doesn’t have the crown. My nephew can inherit the crown without oppositions now.”
“Nephew?”
“Big sister Miyabe had a boy. He’s twelve this year.”
Lily’s nephew wasn’t born when he was in Xu. It meant he stayed in these ruins for at least twelve years. Twelve whole years. An Enui could live for thousands of years and yet, these twelve years felt like the longest in his life.
He regretted leaving Lily to live in a world suffering from those Shadows for that long. He regretted he couldn’t do more during that day.
Lily suddenly popped into his view. “Are you curious about him?”
He shrugged. He wasn’t sure he had the right to meet her nephew.
Lily pulled out a paper doll written with strange characters. As she pulled the edges apart, it bloated. She held out a magic crystal whispering an incantation, giving it artificial life as it took on a shape of a small bird. It took off, circling around once then roosted on her shoulder. It pecked a small rolled up note in its beak off her fingers.
“Deliver this message back. We found the Oracle and the Royal Crown.”
Mystified, his eyes were glued on the paper bird.
“Hm? This?” Lily pointed. “You don’t remember? It’s origami. I made you a paper crane before. I infused wind magic into them to make them seem to come to life. I’m amazing, aren’t I? I can teach you. When we get back, let’s make lots!”
“Priestess, we’ve finished the repairs as best we can.”
“They’re done. Kihet, how does it look?”
While he was fulfilling his promise, the soldiers of Xu repaired most of the graveyard. Although the tombstones were rebuilt a bit rushed, they managed to carve the names of the people in the Enui’s language. Withering flowers were replaced by fresh blooming ones planted around Hannah and Lemi’s grave.
He dipped his head, giving the soldiers a tiny nod. Afterwards, he kneeled in front of Hannah and Lemi’s tombstone and prayed.
-Hannah, Lemi, what would you say if you two saw me like this? You’re both angry, aren’t you? I have no excuses for losing myself, becoming a monster in front of your graves. I just couldn’t face the rest of the world because I’m a coward. But I promise that’ll change. I’m given a second chance to go out there and make a difference. Please watch me.-
There were others as well. The chances were slim, but he prayed for Malth, Megith, Draigh, Vol, Elius and especially for Sorah. Their bodies have yet shown up at the temple which meant they’re out there, somewhere.
When he opened his eyes, he found Lily kneeling beside him with her hands together. For the first time, this place where he’d always hear the dead’s curse, it was silent.
“I figured these two were important people to you. I’m showing my gratitude for them.”
Lily’s a good girl, really. Kihet made a fist away from everyone’s eyes and made a small prayer to Shiba although his grave wasn’t here. He vowed to watch over Lily and to protect her from all harm towards her.
“Lily.”
“Hm?”
“Ready.”
She gave me a powerful nod and great big smile formed on her face. “En!”
----------------------------------------
Her soldiers wanted to investigate the tower. On their way, Lily gave him a summary of events happened outside the world.
A week after news of Kihet and her brother was caught in an accident in Rozzosea, the sacred tree from Xu lost vast amounts of power to fight the poison contaminating their land. To worsen the situation, Eizan launched skirmishes while Xu was disarrayed. Each time he launched an assault, he pushed refugees towards the capital trying to starve them. As a result, it took a few years to sort out housing problems, but food shortages were all time high. Since they lost many lands, agriculture activities decreased significantly.
Fortunately, Shiba saved them. His secret contingency plans in his will gave them a way to fight the famine in case there was a day the sacred tree’s strength to fight the poison could not come back. This method of his would buy extra time for the capital’s ensured survival.
“Underground?”
“I didn’t believe it at first, but I couldn’t believe my brother was able to hide it from everyone! We found records of it still experimental, but the underground farm beneath the sacred tree had proven usable enough to provide food to feed the capital until things settled down.”
Kihet imagined the crops must be feeding off the sacred tree’s energy in some way without impacting it.
They passed the heroes’ grave and saw the withering tree on top of the hill.
He missed the time he spent up there. He remembered the scenery during the morning was beautiful. He saw Henrick looking out towards the distant lands with an unusual expression. It appeared he was dazed by his own thoughts.
Hm? Is that Henrick? What’s he doing up there? He knows I’m making my way to the tower.
“We’re at the tower. No signs of monsters.”
“It’s as big as the one in Xu, but it’s obsidian.”
“There’s a stone here with a strange mark. It’s the same as the tower.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t.” Kihet pulled the soldier inspecting it back.
That was where Henrick sealed the Shadow Knight. If it was accidentally released, Kihet knew everyone here would be annihilated instantly.
While soldiers investigated the tower, he walked towards one of the marked walls. When he put his hand over one of the symbols, it blinked and opened a portal.
“Kihet, what did you do?”
He pulled his sleeves back. The same sigils that were implanted on his arms were shown to them. It was neon red, covering the pinkish disgusting scars.
“In.”
“Wait, wait, wait! You’re going in?!” Lily exclaimed. “Shouldn’t we take a peek first?”
Kihet ignored her as he strapped on a small shield and readied his dull broken sword. Lily and her soldiers hurriedly drew their weapons and followed his lead, but he stopped the others and pointed only at her.
“Only me?”
He nodded and charged in first.
As the one who frequented the tower, he was knew the tower’s procedure to greet its challengers. Immediately after Kihet opened his eyes, a group of Shadows, four of them, rushed towards him.
He dropped his body low and braced with two wooden spears in each hand. The shadows skewered themselves on their leaping charge as Kihet countered the third with an uppercut using the edge of his cracked shield. Shadow four flailed its arms hopping to slash him, but his sword was already in mid swing and severed its body before it brought it’s claw down. This brought him in the others’ attack range.
He hurled his broken sword at the Shadow third and pounced at it. When Shadow one and two pulled themselves off the spears, Kihet’s ribbons flicked the shives at them and pierced the Shadow like paper targets. A ring of silver flames ignited where they were hit and consumed them.
Lily was about to arrive, but an unexpected person also tagged along. Kihet shot a glare at Henrick who acted suspicious. Usually, Henrick preferred to stay away from the tower. Something about his presence rubbed Kihet in a wrong way.
“These Shadows aren’t worth any effort to take down anymore. You took care of them so easily. Don’t mind me. I’m curious how the tower will react after you invited her.”
-I don’t trust you one bit.-
“H-huh?! Was there a battle?”
The Shadows vanished as Lily stepped through the portal. She shined her lantern in all direction, exploring the ruins.
“So, this is the inside of a tower. It’s dark as expected. Feels like I’m in a dungeon. There are empty sconces not being used. I see, I see.” She scribbled on a piece of paper.
It made sense they weren’t being used. Nothing in existence would climb up and down thousands flight of stairs to keep the towers seemingly endless halls lit. The braziers on the other hand, their fuel source was connected to the tower’s core. Not that Kihet ever came across it.
“Come.”
He waved her to follow, blindly trusting his instincts to explore the maze. Lily drew her sword and looked around paranoid. Henrick trailed along but kept to himself as Lily was unable to sense him.
Oddly enough, they didn’t encounter any Shadows aside from the four that greeted him. Not even a single brazier, which was weird considering he encountered at least one by now.
“What’s over there?” Lily pointed.
For the first time, Kihet encountered an old wooden door at the end of a hall. The simple board of wood was decorated with moss covered cracks on its bark surface.
Lily attempted to reach for the knob, but he quickly seized her collar and flicked his knife at it. The blade anchored into the door and remained stuck until he pried it off. With this, he was certain it wasn’t booby trapped by magic, but what about physical traps?
“Do we go in?”
He thought about it for a while, then tested the handle. It was loose, easy to turn, unlocked. No sign of it tampered with. Slowly, he pushed his weight on it and the door creaked even if he was considerate of the door’s age as he looked through from the crevice.
There was a night sky extending beyond the horizon. The room extended far beyond the tower’s architecture like the door was a gateway to another place. With the wind caressing his face, he determined they were no longer in the tower.
“It’s so pretty. It’s a while since I saw stars.”
Suddenly the door behind slammed itself shut and vanished by turning transparent. Lily let out a terrified scream and clung onto Kihet. While she was focused trying to locate an exit, he looked to the center.
In the middle of the open field, there was one Shadow. It was praying in front of the alter until it noticed them. The density of miasma was as heavy as the Shadow Wizard. The more he stared at it, there was an unsettling but familiar feeling wrapping around heart. It was pulling his consciousness away, but when it got up, its familiar shape hit him.
It waved back its cape and drew its saber. Kihet recognized it was the Shadow Knight that was sealed in front of the tower.
The Shadow Knight infused white light onto its blade and launched an energy blast at them.
“Lily!”
“Wah, huh?”
Kihet quickly intercepted it with the Oracle’s flames burning his cracked buckler. A solid thump echoed throughout the room and pushed him back a little. If he used an unenchanted shield instead, they would’ve got cut in half. Even though he managed to block the Shadow Knight’s sword wave, the force behind it knocked his shield arm up.
In an instant it put Kihet into its attack range.
Lily loosened a flurry of arrows and drove it back. Almost all of them were headshots, but that didn’t kill it. Since arrows weren’t enchanted, it didn’t do any damage and remain stuck in its face.
“That’s creepy…”
Lily was well aware her attack had no effect. She must have a fair share of encountering Shadows from Xu. While the Shadow put some distance between them, Kihet put his hand over her weapons, enchanting them.
A magic circle formed over the Shadow’s hand as it muttered something.
“It’s about to do something!” Lily shouted.
It let out a banshee like screech, pointing the sword at them. The magic circle on its hand shattered and a series of glowing cracks branched out towards them. They formed a hexagon under their feet, raising the floor beneath them. In its attempt to fling them into the air, Kihet quickly grabbed Lily and rolled off it, making a runaway from more stone pillars growing behind them.
“Kihet, one of them is circling around us!”
Kihet ripped his shield off and whipped it into the ground. As soon as the burning shield contacted the magic line, ice sprouted like needles growing on cactuses then the flames disintegrated it. The flame’s anti magical properties stopped the Shadow’s magic from pursuing them.
“I never saw a Shadow that could cast magic this strong. Do you have any idea what it is?”
He nodded.
Kihet spotted a stroke of light curving from their left and quickly sniped the approaching magic with a dart. He could dispel any magic, but he didn’t have an infinite amount of darts to continue his defence.
He remembered when he and his friends were outmatched on their first encounter against it. It was faster than Vol, stronger than Draigh, resistant against Elius and Lemi’s magic, deadlier than Malth and Megith’s combo. It had a barrier to deflect Sorah’s arrows, resistance to status aliments from his traps. It was invincible at that time.
Kihet bit his lip, watching its every movement.
“What should we do?”
“Circle it.”
“Eh?”
He charged forward as Lily confusingly screamed at him.
Three black seaweed like tentacles sprouted out of the ground and lashed at him. He dropped on the ground, sliding underneath one then quickly and jumped over the one sweeping for his legs. The third one caught him in mid-air.
He managed to grab a hold of it before he was flung off. He drove his weapon in it, injecting the vile thing with the Oracle’s flames until it exploded. He jumped out using the cover of smoke and pounced the Shadow Knight.
He learned a lot during his last encounter. He knew when the Shadow Knight was cornered, it will surround itself with impenetrable wall of light to give time for itself to charge up for a powerful magic blast. To avoid the likelihood, Kihet forced its sword to penetrate his left hand. Gritting his teeth, clenching his muscles, he forced his hand all the way down to the hilt of the saber. His fingers tightly wrap around the handle and fought for control over the weapon.
It grabbed Kihet’s wrist before he put his sword through its head. Since both their arms were occupied, it turned into a battle of attrition. It wrestled with him as he held it in place.
“Now!”
“I got it!”
As silver flames spread from Kihet’s hand down its arm, Lily backstabbed it with her sword. She drove the entire length of her blade through the Shadow Knight’s chest wreathed with the Oracle’s flames.
Kihet noticed the Shadow Knight’s strength fade as he shook off its grip then plunged his sword into its neck. The Oracle’s flame burned away the cloak of miasma, consuming the Shadow.
-I… I did it? Wasn’t that a bit too easy…?-
He removed the saber off his hand, watching the Shadow collapsed and burn. There was a doubt he didn’t finish it. First off, something about this encounter was off. The way it deployed its magic, the Shadow Tentacles were new tricks it hadn’t shown before.
“Kihet, that was too reckless of you!”
Lily hurriedly ripped one of her sleeves off and secured a knot to stop the bleeding.
“I’m fine.”
“No you’re not! Stop forcing yourself to get hurt like that! We could’ve taken it down together and you charged in to be the decoy! Don’t you know you could rely on me more? I can fight too!”
He never imagined she could scold him like this.
“Did you even think how sad I’d be if I see you get hurt like that?”
Just like the old days, my recklessness gets people to worry. From now on, I’ll have to be careful.
“Sorry…”
“I won’t forgive you that easily. If you want me to trust you, hug me back!”
And there was the spoiled Lily he knew. He sighed and gave a squeeze, watching her long ears flapping up and down.
“Erk!”
-That sound didn’t come from Lily or me. That sounded like…-
His eyes widened when he noticed the body released from the black miasma. It belonged to Henrick. The mischievous, up to no good, scheming, Henrick laid on the side as if he was stabbed and tossed aside at a sidewalk. His body was distorting, glitching out.
“Kihet?”
He moved away from Lily and slowly approached Henrick. When he got a look of the other side of the body, the miasma took over Henrick’s left arm.
“You’re one of them… Aren’t you one of the heroes from the grave?”
Then it donned onto him. The reason why those Shadows could be powerful was because their host were heroes from the grave.
“Guess the secret’s out. You see, I was holding onto this secret until there was someone to bring your senses back. I’m the last one holding back the others the best I can. Soon, you’re going to have to fight me, but I won’t be able to hold back like I did.”
-Wait, the Oracle’s power-, I can save him!-
But when Kihet attacked the shadow with his sword, the enchantment disintegrated. Even the Oracle’s flames weren’t enough.
“You should… focus on recruiting six other heroes… You’re plenty strong as you are but come back when you’re even stronger.” The shadow has now spread throughout his body, sparing his face and right arm. “Go, Kihet. There’s a better chance if you go now.”
“Kihet, what’s wrong?”
“We leave. Now.”