Chapter 26: Estranged

Zack

Zack and Maya rose early. Before any villagers within Toren did so they could remain one step ahead and avoid trouble. The bright morning sun was the only boon the two were given from this choice. It was regrettable they had lost the trust of the people of Toren, but it was a necessary sacrifice. Zack knew it was the right thing to do as to not un-nerve the villagers further after what happened to them. Zack and Maya’s attention however was now brought to the appearance of new a new threat. The strange mutations that the animals in the area had been taking from the mana in the land that had originally threatened the village mentioned by Rena. The plateau that Toren sat on should suffice for any mana-mutated animals that resided in the land to be deterred away. Something that could surpass that however was definitely a threat. A threat that Zack and Maya wanted to find and eliminate.

“Perhaps we should have asked the whereabouts of these creatures,” Maya said as she walked alongside Zack on the path leaving the village.

“We shouldn’t need to, mana-mutated animals that have become monstrous will actively hunt other animals and humans” Stated Zack.

“I see…did you ever hunt mana-mutated animals in the Atlus army? As targets I mean,” Maya asked

“No,” Zack replied quickly “Well…not intentionally. They often became obstacles when hunting our actual target,”

“So you're familiar with how to fight them?” Zack and Maya began to take the worn-in path next to a large lake as they continued to speak.

“More or less. They act like regular animals that grow hostile but are much more aggressive” Zack continued “Their features also mutate to the point they become more beast-like, extended fangs or claws…things like that. I’ve seen boars with fangs that have grown to the point they pierce into their own flesh,”

“I see,” Maya said as she recalled her own memories of the beasts “Yes I remember seeing the odd beast when I was still with Ash. In all honesty, they were dastardly to look at.” Maya said with disgust. Zack rolled his eye.

“I gonna guess that word means bad?”

“You would be right,” She said, slightly proud from the way she sounded.

“See? I can speak just fine without learning new words” He said in spite.

“That’s still no excuse Zack! You would do well to expand your vocabulary.” She told him, semi-cross with his lack of knowledge.

“I’d rather focus on getting stronger. Strength is what will keep us safe, not my words.” Maya stopped for a moment but quickly resumed her pace. She felt something in her heart for a moment but decided to not acknowledge it. The two journeyed further with the odd conversation as they searched for a suitable camping spot.

Zack reached for The Frozen Blade once again, he had managed to train his nerves to wield the blade in its regular state without wavering in his pain too much to the point he would drop it. However, this was only when he was not coursing mana through the blade. In this state, it was no stronger than a blade of steel, and thus, would serve no purpose. Maya sat reading her book silently by the campfire they made for the night next to the large lake they stopped by. It was small but would do the job to keep them warm in the night. Zack stood far from the campfire and looked out towards the dark lake. He stood tall, still in his black armor, his torn red caplet flowing gently behind him, and gritted his teeth, imagining he really was in a battle for his life. Ready to embrace the power of the ice. Once again, he held the blade and began to force mana from Maya into the sword. The rod of ice began to emit far more mist bits of ice began to fall from the blade as the catalyst coursed mana through its base. At the same time, however, he dropped the blade and recoiled in pain. There was no in-between with the sword’s strength. It became so cold and powerful from how potent Maya’s mana was. Zack breathed heavily and calmed his nerves as his gauntlet began to freeze over with a thick layer of ice. The sword quickly returned to normal, to a simple rod of ice with a small amount of mist emanating from it. He quickly retreated to the campfire and held his gauntlet over flames to thaw it out. Maya looked up from her book. Despite having only one eye visible, she could see the frustration Zack was having in his eye.

“Zack,” She called to him. He looked across to her, still holding his hand over the flame. The warm fire lit her gently and bounced off her bright white hair. She lowered her book and patted the patch of grass next to her. “Come sit,” She offered invitingly. Zack hesitated for a moment with the decision visible on his face but decided to leave the blade for the night.

“In a sec, let me finish getting the ice off,” he said between grunts.

“You really are a glutton for punishment aren’t you?” She said looking back down to her book and shaking her head.

“I’m getting close Maya, I can almost begin to force mana into the blade,” Zack protested as if she was attacking his efforts.

“I’m not deterring you, Zack,”

“You're not?” He asked confused.

“No, I’m not. I just don’t want to see you hurt yourself, just make sure you're exercising caution, ok?” Zack nodded to her and then sat next to the Ketan woman on the grass.

“The way you talk reminds me of Matthew.” He said settling himself in a cross-legged position. His pteruges resting on his legs. Maya turned to him.

“How so?”

“You always used words I could never understand,” Maya cracked a smile at his explanation. Zack looked down at her book. “What are you reading?”

“An autobiography of an Ashian traveler from several decades ago,” She said showing him the cover of the book. It looked like a regular leather-bound book, though it was worn in and seemed like something Maya had kept on her for a while. That or she bought it in a poor state.

“What’s an autobiography?” Asked Zack

“It’s when the author of a book describes their life and the experiences they went through to become the person they are now. However, that is a broad way to explain it. There are plenty of different biographies” she explained, clearly passionate in the way she spoke.

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“Sounds like you enjoy reading them,”

“That I do. They let me learn so much about the world and how other people see life and the experiences it offers. It lets me take that knowledge and apply it to my own life.” explained Maya as the warm campfire crackled beside them.

“Maybe I could take some time to learn to read. Reading about the experience from other travels would be really useful now that I think about it,” Zack admitted.

“Oh really,” Maya said rasing herself slightly to meet with Zack with her interest piqued. “I would be willing to teach you, do keep in mind however it will take quite a lot of time and diligence to learn. It's typically something you learn as a child so learning to read in adulthood is much more difficult,” she explained.

“Oh,” said Zack slightly disappointed. “Guess there’s not much point in learning now then,” he told her dejected.

“I never said that, just that it’s a bit harder and takes longer but it’s not impossible. I’ve seen your diligence Zack…you will learn just fine.”

“You think I’m diligent?” Zack said surprised. She nodded.

“From how your life has been…you would be required to have exceptional diligence to be here now.” Zack looked at her slightly stunned but decided to thank her.

“That’s nice of you to say,” The two sat in silence for a few moments before Zack broke off the silence awkwardly. “I think you are really brave,” Zack blurted out quietly. Maya turned to him surprised “Where did that come from?” She asked laughing nervously.

“It…felt like the right thing to say…but it’s true. I’ve never seen a woman who has faced the challenges you have. And I have not seen a woman deal with them in such a strong way, you’re…you’re something unique” Zack’s words struck Maya and resonated with her. She felt a blush creep onto her face but luckily the light of the fire hid the change in color on her face. Maya looked as if she was nearing Zack as she sat on the grass.

“Thank you, Za-” She was interrupted by a horrifying screech, far off in the distance that radiated through the whole valley. The sound making Maya and Zack jump to attention from the fright of it. It was as if the otherworldy scream was echoing through the valley. Zack's eyes widened in terror, he had never heard anything like it.

“What the fuck was that?” Zack said slightly panicked.

“It may be the mana-mutated animals Rena was referring to,” suggested Maya.

“I’ll go find out, stay here!” Zack said as he broke into a sprint and picked up The Frozen Blade

“You're not leaving me, Zack, I can fend for myself just fine!” said Maya slightly offended. Zack stopped and turned back to her.

“I know, but this isn't something where we know what to expect,” Zack explained

“That doesn’t mean you get to play the hero Zack! You know you won’t be able to use The Frozen Blade without me,” Maya protested. She was right, Zack wasn’t aware of what to expect. He needed that sword. He looked down at the chilling sword. It’s mist slowly creeping up his gauntlet. I don’t want to risk her life as well though. Zack thought to himself. Another horrifying shriek ran through the air, piercing the bones of anyone in its range. Zack took a deep breath and walked back to Maya. Her face was determined and more confident than a regular person would be in this situation.

“Please, promise me you will be careful,” Zack said slowly and sincerely. Holding his gauntleted hand out to her. Maya looked down and took his handshake, placing her own hand in his glove.

“So long as you follow that same advice, Zack,” Zack shook and nodded, as did Maya and the two were both in agreement. They began to make haste back toward the echoing screams that radiated from Toren's direction.

Zack and Maya eventually reached Toren once again, still under the cover of night. The violent screams of the unknown beast continued and only grew louder as they neared the village. After taking the bridge up, they were presented with an empty village.

“The villagers must have either fled or taken shelter in the inn,” Maya said.

“Go look for the villagers, inform them we're here. I’ll gather the guards and rally a defense. And find out what’s going on.” Maya nodded and jogged up through the village in the direction of the inn, her silver saber at her waist juggling with her stride. Zack ran towards the edge of the plateau where he could see a group of spearmen. As he approached he heard them talk towards what looked like the captain.

“-row back before we can finish them,” said the shorter guard towards a gruff old spearman. Zack quickly came to a stop as he approached the group.

“What going on?” asked Zack. The spearmen all turned and rolled their eyes, groaning as they saw him.

“Well, if it ain’t that blasted outsider,” said the shorter one with spite in his voice.

“You come back for round 2 eh?” said a taller one with what sounded like flem at the forefront of his mouth.

“Right! That’s enough!” Said the gruff and older spearman. The men listened and begrudgingly became quiet. The aged man pushed to the front, despite his age, he stood tall and dignified. His beard was greyed but squared and kept neat and trimmed.

“I’m guessing you came here to fight?” He said meeting Zack’s eye.

“I have,” Zack said as confidently as he could. The man had a presence to him that was surprising for a captain of a village guard.

“Then that’s all I need to hear, help is what we need right now.” He beckoned Zack over to the edge of the plateau where the pulleys were stationed that were used to hoist people to and from. The two peered over the edge to look where the otherworldly groans were coming from. Despite the darkness of night, Zack could still see the threat, maybe ten threats. They looked to resemble…no, he couldn’t compare them to anything. They resembled men turned into beasts. They stood upright but their limps were frail and wiry, their skin was pale and blue with their head looking skull-like with little facial features and no hair. Not to mention they stood at about nine or so feet tall - It was hard to tell from the position he stood - they were not mana-mutated animals, that was for certain.

“What the hell are those?” Zack said with disgust in his voice as he looked down at them, watching how they hobbled around towards the plateau.

“Don’t know son, they took out most of our force here.” Explained the veteran guard. Zack saw what he meant. A few spearmen lay dead and torn apart on the ground level. “They’re fast, brutal and they recover lost limbs,” Recover lost limbs…mana shouldn’t be able to do that. Zack thought to himself “Good news is they can be killed. Took about four men per monster but we whittled their force down a bit.” The creatures continued to groan below them in alien-like sounds and pitches, though, they didn’t resemble the crashing screech Zack and Maya had heard earlier.

“How did you kill them if they grow back body parts?” Zack asked.

“Take the head off, we impale them, hold them down, and peirce the neck. You've got a sword though so just slice it off and that should do…they don’t come back after that.” Zack nodded.

“There’s another member of my party, she will arrive here soon as backup,”

“She?” asked the old man, turning to him and raising his furry eyebrow.

“She can fight, I promise,” The old man sighed, turning his attention back down to the monsters.

“Don’t have time to be picky now. Right, assassin. You and I will head down and take the front line. We’ll injure the bastards and the squad of spearmen will form a line that will finish off the downed creatures after we've wounded them, but we’ll be doing the brunt of the work and you’ll need to be quick son, can ya handle that?” Zack nodded and gripped his steel sword.

“I can,” The old man rose and took his spear.

“Good boy…MEN!” Shouted the captain “Myself and the assassin will lead the charge, we will bring down the beasts and you will finish them off like the rest of the men did. Is that understood!” The men stood tall, with their spears matching their posture as they were held in their hands.

“SIR!” they all said in unison. The guards and Zack entered the pulley platform, and began to descend down into hell itself.