Staring at the top of the mountain where she lost sight of Zycor’s carriage, Lizali stood in a daze. She was trying to process what had happened. She looked down at the shattered remnants of her backpack. Leaning down Lizali took a shard of it into her hand, staring at it. She slowly closed her hand around it, bringing it to her chest. As the tears fell, a familiar, older man's voice commented, “Wow, he really went through with it.”
Lizali looked up and saw Lathal gazing up at the ridge. He continued, “With how fondly he spoke of you, I am both amazed that he managed to leave you and disappointed this is the path he chose.”
Her eyes widened at Lathal's statement as she scowled, “You knew he was planning this, didn’t you? And you didn’t tell me?!”
“It wasn’t my place to say anything. He has only done what he thought was the right thing to do.”
Jumping to her feet, Lizali’s eyes narrowed in anger and frustration while her tears continued to fall, she grabbed his shirt and cried, “You bastard! You should have talked to him! I am certain he would have listened to you!”
Lathal looked down at her with pity, replying, “Zycor was far more likely to listen to you among anyone else in my opinion. From our talks, everytime he mentioned you it was with warmth and trust. If he went this far against you, there was no way he would have listened to me.”
Lizali’s expression faltered, her grip on Lathal’s shirt loosening. As she continued crying, Lizali complained, “That idiot… he just won’t listen to reason. He is only thinking about himself and his own ambitions. He doesn’t care about those he is hurting, the families he is tearing apart due to his crusade. Not every Velathrian is a terrible demon who deserves to be wiped out… we are all different… he can’t just judge every Velathrian knight as guilty, it doesn’t make sense!”
Lathal, fixing his shirt, questioned, “And you voiced this to him properly, right?”
Lizali adamantly exclaimed, “Of course I did! But he just walked away from me!”
With a heavy sigh, Lathal flicked Lizali on the forehead with a moderate amount of force. While she nursed her forehead, he called her out, “You know, Liz, out of most of the people I know, you make pretty solid arguments. There are few people I am willing to admit you couldn’t convince. But from what I have heard from the boy, you didn’t make a decent argument that mirrored what you just told me.”
“No… that’s not true… I-I explained it to him! At least… I think I did?” Lizali tried to recall exactly what she had told Zycor. The more she thought about it, the more she realized just how poorly she worded her argument.
“There it is, the look of realization. Similarly to Zycor, you care about him a great deal. And just like he seems to have done to you, it seems you have treated him as the same young boy you once knew. You talked to him as though you were the adult and he was the child who was supposed to listen to you.”
Trying to defend herself, Lizali stammered through her sobs, “N-no… I wasn’t… I mean… I might have been… but it’s not like I am wrong, right?! K-killing every knight… s-simply because they are V-Velathrian… it’s wrong…”
Lathal retorted flatly, “Yes, from your point of view. Like I said earlier, Zycor has done what he believes to be right. You have to understand exactly what that boy has gone through. He had his family taken from him right in front of him when he was nothing more than an actual child. He was picked up and raised by probably the most unqualified person to be a parent, and raised to embrace his own ambitions and ideals. He made friends only to have them repeatedly nearly ripped away from him. He is constantly faced with the cruel reality of his own limitations, especially so when his adoptive mother was killed as well. He blames himself for the death of his birth family, for the death of his adoptive mother as well as the countless lives of the innocent bystanders that were constantly caught in the crossfire of his fights.”
Lizali fell to her knees, a mortified expression on her face. “H-he never… said anything about it…”
“Probably because he felt it was something you shouldn’t have to worry about. After all, just like you treated him as the same young boy you remembered, he treated you as the young lass he believed he had lost.”
Lizali remained on her knees, looking at the remains of her backpack. She replayed the argument Zycor and her just had, using the knowledge she was just given to explain Zycor’s actions. Her hands gripped her knees tightly, gritting her teeth. Lizali quickly stood up and stormed off to her workshop.
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Lathal raised an eyebrow and asked, “And where are you headed?”
Her pace never slowing, Lizali adamantly replied, “I am going after that idiot. If he really thinks I am that easy to get rid of, he really does see me as a child.”
Lathal chuckled to himself, looking back at the ridge, “Heh. Well Zycor, what will you do? It looks like you have one determined lass coming after you. I am curious to know how you will handle this coming storm. I can only hope you don’t break…”
-
The rumble of the wagon’s wheels provided little distraction from the deafening silence that hung upon the group. Zycor stared out the back, wondering if he would come to regret his choice. Everytime that thought crossed his mind, his thoughts drifted to the little girl he played with in the village, then to the village burning around him. He didn’t know whether or not he would come to regret it, but he believed he made the right choice.
Aisha’s foot bounced on the floor of the wagon, her arms crossed as she seethed. Baz and Mylon looked out the front of the wagon as Nalea drove. Her irritation finally getting the best of her, Aisha grumbled, “So, you gonna explain what the hell that was about, Zy?”
Zycor remained silent, continuing to stare out the back which only served to anger Aisha more. She raised her voice as she chastised Zycor, “Listen here you idiot, you don’t get to just kick someone out of the party without talking to the rest of us! We are in this together, ya know?!”
Zycor maintained his stare, replying with a question, “Then, should I have left you back there as well? It seems you may not be up to what comes next as well.”
His comment serving to exacerbate her growing rage, Aisha stood up and shouted, “The hell is that supposed to mean!? I get that you are probably torn up inside by what you did, and you should be! But you don’t get to treat me poorly just because you are hurting!”
“I’m not treating you poorly. I am merely questioning whether or not it would have been safer for you to remain with Lizali. I don’t want you to die either, but I feel I have a good grasp of what you can handle and decided you could handle this.”
Mylon put his hands up as he nervously laughed, “Now now, let’s settle down. We are all heartbroken over having to leave Lizali behind, but let’s not allow that to tear us apart.”
“But Mylon, I know you agree with-.”
Cutting her off, Mylon coldly states, “That is not the point here, Aisha.”
Feeling chills run down her spine, Aisha sat back down and went silent. Mylon continued, “Zy, I don’t know your exact reasons, but I have a feeling it has to do with her view on Velathrian’s, is that right?”
Zycor kept quiet for a moment, considering how he should respond. He gripped the trunk, replying, “What we are about to do… there can be no mercy. Having such thoughts will only cost you your life, and I refuse to allow Liz-... Lizali to die that way. She doesn’t understand that Velathria deserves no mercy whatsoever, they are a cancer that needs to be cut out. And I will be the knife that carves them out.”
The pain, anger, resentment and sadness in his voice was palpable. Baz, looking out the front, mirroring Zycor, spoke up, “Oftentimes, when someone tries to force another to avoid a path they believe would lead the other to their destruction, it usually leads the person down that road. I can only hope you do not have to learn this the way…”
Baz went silent as Mylon placed a hand on his shoulder. With a somber tone, Zycor’s grip grew soft as he replied, “Yeah… I do too…”
Aisha, torn between being furious with the way Zycor handled the situation with Lizali, and wanting to comfort her friend, clutched her knees. She held her breath, her chest tensing in rage and then let it all out with a heavy exhale. She walked to the back of the wagon and sat down next to Zycor. She placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him, “I heavily disagree with how you handled things… but, we are in this together. You don’t have to feel like you must go through all of this alone. We all care about you… I care about you.”
Aisha caught sight of a solitary tear shed by Zycor. His hand came to rest on hers on his shoulder as he softly said, “Thank you.”
Nalea smiled, happy to hear they had made up. She continued steering the wagon forward, on to their destination, Itzal’s dungeon. Everything continued relatively smoothly for a while longer. However, without warning, Nalea’s eyes narrowed as she shouted, “Brace yourselves!”
Suddenly, the earth around them began to rise up, massive stones rising up in front and beside the wagon, making a large, enclosed space. Nalea stopped the wagon while the horses began going crazy. Their hysteria did not last long, though, for two spikes of a black substance pierced through them, instantly killing the horses. Zycor looked at the floor of the wagon and cried, “Everyone get off!”
As the party swiftly abandoned the wagon, a larger spike burst from the ground and destroyed the wagon completely. Zycor’s eyes narrowed as the black spikes retracted, leaving a viscous, black goop behind.
An opening was created across from the party as four Velathrian knights and a well dressed man walked in. Zycor, Baz, Mylon, Nalea, and Aisha all prepared for the inevitable fight. The light from the sun seeped in from the various gaps of the man-made enclosure.
The well dressed man, Mr. X, grinned as he addressed Zycor and the party, “Hello my dear… acquaintances. What a pleasant… surprise to meet… here.”
Zycor grabbed his gauntlets from his waist, enlarging and equipping them. He slammed his fists together, lightning crackling from the impact while he grinned maliciously, “Yeah, for once we agree, you bastard. I’ve got some shit to work through. So, who’s up first?”