Aresa holds her board out in front of Seifer.

{How could you not know? Don't you work for the King?}

"... Apologies, Lady Aresa. But it seems the King believed I wouldn't be on board with such an agreement, and he's half right. While it disgusts me, especially since people from the outside are sacrificed for our well-being, it's also a fact that we've always been teetering on the edge of collapse. If most of our fish were to disappear, well... I really don't know how long Kellog would last. Especially now that the only thing we can grow is those damned peanuts from Thule. Although they are rather delicious, there's no denying that."

'Half right' huh... He loves his nation but his morals aren't on board with sacrificing people for it. Looks like the King's decision to keep him in the dark was correct. As for whether I think the King made the right decision by making a pact with a foreign Eldritch... I'm really not sure. I would have needed to be here during the inception to know whether there truly were no other options. The man obviously has a deep hatred for the Crotia and both his brother and father. Who's to say he didn't ignore other paths he could have taken because he was too focused on getting revenge?

I looked at Keith. "How often is that Demon going to try and capture one of us? And why was it so slow? It could have easily grabbed Nisha by warping behind her and grabbing her in the same instant, but instead it... I don't even know? Grew out of her shadow it looked like..."

Keith nodded. "Because that's exactly what happened. We figured out that the only way to sleep was by putting light sources everywhere in a single room. This way nobody was casting shadows big enough for the Demon to appear from. And before anyone else asks, I don't know why it only approaches us through shadows when it obviously has the ability to warp."

Hmm... There must be rules to its warp. When you have an ability or spell that's a little too strong, the world imposes restrictions on it. Which is a major reason why I was so shocked when I first encountered Arkaios' reset. Even an old god like Eremnon can't just do whatever he wants in our world... I did get my answer to that in the end though. Without the templars and his artifacts, he's just as harmless as Eremnon and Meizha'thul are.

It does bring up a few more questions that I'd love some answers to.

Why doesn't Arkaios just make a whole legion of 'branded' people to carry out his will here?

And the other obvious question is 'Why the hell does Meizha'thul have the ability to take the souls of our dead'? That question has been asked by pretty much everyone though, and nobody has an answer to it. At least nobody I've ever talked to.

"Only peanuts? You said earlier that you heard of farm animals missing, and we saw those massive barns on the ride into Kellog. Don't you have a bunch of farm animals?" Alicia asked.

Seifer shook his head. "Not so much anymore. Those barns were only meant to house half of our stock, so we had no choice but to butcher the other half after this eternal winter started. That meat will last us quite a while, and there are plenty of hunters like Cid who find wild game in our region, but the remaining half of our animals just aren't going to cut it. We're building more barns right as we speak, but it's going to take a long time thanks to this damned weather."

Honestly, I'm pretty sure this nation is done for. If the cause of the pitch-black sky isn't found, and Viseux delays the lizards from 'helping', then they might reach Kellog far too late. It's possible for them to pull through, but the madness has just begun and they've already needed to call for help from the outside. The next time they do it, Viseux is going to smell blood and make some very hefty demands. I just... I really don't see them surviving.

"... You okay Euphie?" Cera asked.

"No." Euphemia sighed, then continued, "... I don't know. I understand what Seifer is saying, but the way my Father and brother brushed it off as if it was..."

... They did act like the people they were buying were just another commodity to be bargained for, like iron or meat. It can't have been easy for her to witness that firsthand. It didn't help that her brother who is about to be crowned made it perfectly clear that not only does he plan on continuing the arrangement with the Eldritch, he in fact intends to strengthen the alliance.

The wagon slows to a stop, and an attendant opens the door for us. Upon exiting the wagon I see that we're at the manor.

"I thought we were going to the inn?" Alicia asked.

"I'm sorry Alicia, but I think I want to rest for now. On that note, I may need some protection for the time being..." Euphemia trailed off.

She's definitely a possible target, so someone needs to stay and defend her if she's not coming with.

"I'll stay with you." Cera looks around, "Anyone with fast reflexes able to stay as well?"

"You already know I'll be staying." Tyra said, exiting the wagon.

Keith steps forward. "Placing lights everywhere is more than enough, but I'll stay just in case. Is that fine with you, princess?"

"Thank you, sir Keith! I greatly appreciate the help." Euphemia said, then turned around and walked toward her manor, with her two 'protectors' trailing behind her.

Shana looks at me and nods while miming the action of squeezing someone's chest. Aresa sees that and immediately puts her board in front of Shana's face.

{That's not why he's staying!}

Shana puts her hand on Aresa's head, rubbing her hair back and forth. "It's okay that you don't understand Aresa... I still love you just the way you are."

{... I know you're deriding me. I'll have you know I could easily get a lover... I'm just choosing not to. I can't have my emotions swayed by anyone or anything until Mother has returned.}

Shiva huh... It's kind of amazing just how little I know about her. She was quite literally the queen of Urza, and yet the people of Xelba barely knew her name. Why did Viseux do so little to stop us? I feel like my unit talked about it a few times, but I can't remember what they said... And I'm still too scared to bring up memories of my friends inside my soul realm.

"One second you guys," I said, then ran up to Keith right before he reached the manor's doors. "Hey, before you go, can I ask why Nisha is suddenly... I won't say friendly, but she's treating me rather normally."

Keith rubbed the back of his head, "Ahh... There are a few reasons for that." He looks back at the three girls, and Euphemia nods at him in response. "First off, when we were branded we had actually spent a long time in the dawn realm. Only a week passed out here I was told, but for us, it was closer to a year. For most of that, Arkaios sent images into our heads, showing us every known Demon, Xerath, Eldritch, etc. Surprisingly, he doesn't know all that much, since getting information from other realms is impossible without sending someone there directly and having them survive the trip back."

Now that's interesting... I knew that old gods couldn't interfere in our realm directly without some level of corruption or apparently a temple connection(as I am now learning), but I always assumed they could access each other's realms much easier. It looks like I was wrong.

Keith continued. "Nisha thought only of killing you when she first arrived, and Arkaios knew that. While he wanted us all to calm our emotions while training us to inherit our roles better, he also wanted to make sure that none of our previous ties interfered with our work. After the year was up and he sent us back, everything seemed fine, until she saw you in the Guardian's guild. The feelings of revenge came back a little, and while I was struggling to figure out how to get her past it, this nation did the heavy lifting for me."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"... Because of the broodling?"

Keith nodded. "Exactly. I guess everything was kind of fantastical up to that point? Even I, after spending a year in the dawn realm, had a hard time adjusting to the fact that I was now an arbiter for an old god, and I will continue to be one until the day I pass on. In her case, the reality of it all must have hit her when the broodling's influence almost put her out of commission. We said she was fine so we could leave the manor and head to the village, but honestly? She was not doing well... Not even a little bit. It took about three days of pure meditation for her to start feeling normal again, and even then it was still eating away at her she said."

Damn, it was that bad? I knew a pure support like her would struggle against things that heavily influence souls, but even I wasn't expecting it to be that bad.

"Basically, I think it all started to feel real for her, so her hatred of you diminished in the face of the real threats she's going to have to face from here on out." Keith said.

So in other words, faceless creatures eating away at her soul served as a nice wake-up call. She most likely is still disgusted with me somewhere in the back of her mind, but if she's not going to act on it, then I don't need to worry about her anymore.

"I see... One more question though, as it's something that has been bugging me for a while now. How come Markus and all the other templars didn't know about the Xerath?"

"Oh, that's simple. Templars are those who willingly become branded. They aren't interested in anything but serving. When you're in Arkaios realm you can feel his emotions if you search for them. That's how I was able to figure out that he actually has an extreme dislike of forcing brands on people. He only desires those who want to serve him willingly, but he will brand those he feels deserve a chance to repent, instead of just killing them outright."

Keith continued, "But to answer your question, it's because templars on Urza are not trained to deal with Xerath. The templars were formed here only half a year before Xelba was destroyed, and up till that point, everyone thought it was an Eldritch running Xelba, not a Xerath. Arkaios saw no reason to teach them about an enemy they would never face on Urza... Or so he believed. Also, just in general, templars aren't taught much. They are given orders, and then they follow them... That's it."

So that's why Markus was so in the dark about everything...

"Thanks for telling me Keith, and good luck guarding the princess." I waved to Keith as I ran back to the Wagon. I passed by Nisha on the way, who was currently heading toward Keith.

Decided to stay? That's for the best actually. We will have a hard time protecting her if we get into a battle.

Keith waved at us before entering the Manor with the three girls.

"Ready?" Ishar asked.

I nodded and we all filed back into the wagon.

----------------------------------------

Ishar opens the wagon door after returning from the inn. "They all left the night we had arrived, and they never came back."

"To where?" Alicia asked.

Ishar shook his head.

"What was it that Blackwall said again during our first dinner? He said there were problems... I think?"

Shana nodded. "Complications, was the word he used."

"Did he elaborate on what those complications were? I can't remember..." Alicia said.

{No. He ate dinner and then left again. No one has seen him since. I have known Blackwall since he was a little boy... You'll find him, right Rei?}

"... Yeah, don't worry Aresa. I'll definitely find him."

The problem is that they've been gone for a long time... I don't know what happened to them yet, but the odds of them being okay are quite low.

As I'm contemplating what to do next, a small blue line connects to both Alicia and Ishar.

"You guys let Nisha mark you?"

"How did you know?" Ishar asked.

"Because I can see that she just connected to both you and Alicia. There's a tiny little blue line sticking into your chest."

"... Your eyes really are convenient." Ishar continued, "Yes, we let Nisha connect to us since Keith is staying there. This way we can pass information back and she can support us. Also, baldy there needs all the help she can get after screwing up twice in a row."

"You're such an ass... I had no way of getting out of that Tengu's electrified ring besides warping home. And the broodling attacked me at the same time my light hammer hit it. I... I admit that one I should have been more careful on, especially since I blinded everyone with that attack." Alicia said.

"Um, Rei?"

I looked at Teifa. "Something wrong?"

"Ah, um... Possibly. Another Teifa has just come up to the surface to talk to me." Teifa continued, "Oh, you probably don't know. It's really hard to talk through curses, buffs... Any mark really if the person you're connected to is underground while you're up above, and vice versa."

"I didn't know that, and it's nice to know, but why did the other Teifa contact you?"

"I think the 'disappearing village" problem you mentioned before might have found its way to us. Our furthest western village didn't send their usual shipment of omni-blood to us, so a search party was sent out and they sadly found the entire village empty. But to make things worse, half the party broke off to check on the mines to see if anyone was down there, and then they went missing too!"

I went to respond but then Teifa cut me off, "Oh! Omni-blood is the blood you get from crystal veins that are connected to Urza! It's very useful. Turning it to steam and entering your soul realm makes learning spells and turning them into abilities much easier, but I don't know why? And um, it's very important for making healing and mana potions. Also, you can straight up inject it if you're in a bad situation! I wouldn't suggest trying that though..."

"I know what omni-blood is but thanks for trying to inform me anyway. Now as for your missing village, that does sound like what is happening up here. The only difference is that nobody who went searching for the villagers turned up missing..."

Teifa raised her hand, "W-With that said! The elder you met before has asked for your assistance. He says with your invisibility you should be able to check the mines and figure out what is happening. He says 'She has a stake in this too, so she will not say no'. Oh, that was translated by the way."

Not sure why she's raising her hand but it's true what the veteran... Err, I mean 'elder' said. This could be just like the Chimera, meaning our answers are waiting below. Plus I would have helped them regardless. They helped me with the knights and the Tengu after all.

"Well shit, looks like I was wrong both times," Ishar said.

"As happy as I am to see you admit defeat on something, I don't actually know what you're referring to?" Alicia said.

"Underground. I told Rei that there was no way the underground was responsible for what is happening up here. But in both the damn cases they may have originated down below..." Ishar replied.

"Hmm, not quite Ishar. I mean technically yes, but the Chimera was originally an above-ground Lord. Three Lords mashed into one body actually... But my point remains the same."

"Bah, the damn thing was hibernating underground, and you even found it down there!" Ishar sighed, then continued, "... This was a learning experience. While I have been right up until now when dismissing any 'Maybe it's underground?' claims from others during my travels, I know now that it's not the guarantee I thought it was."

Normally he'd be right though. Only two times in all my years living in Xelba did something I was investigating lead me underground.

"Alright well, I guess I'm heading underground? You guys can handle the Demon just fine without me... I hope."

Aresa grabs my armor and holds up her board with her other hand. {Be safe... Please?}

... It's been so long since someone cared about me. Even just this little bit of sincerity is hitting me harder than it should.

I reach out and pat Aresa's head. "I'm sorry cutie. I just said I'd find Blackwall, but it looks like I need to take care of something else. With any luck, I'll be able to wrap this up fast. That way I can make it back here in time to assist you guys."

Shana taps my shoulder. "Sending a clone with you, okay?"

"That's fine with me. I was planning on running there with my aura up but it's probably for the best that I don't so I can I escort that other Teifa home."

"She's not alone. There is an escort with her already, and they're waiting for your reply," Teifa said.

"Oh, in that case tell them I'm on my way and that someone else will be coming with me as well. Also, I need to confirm, but they're in the same underground entrance I came through earlier, right?"

Teifa nodded as I exited the wagon. Ishar stepped aside, making room for me as one of Shana's clones materialized into existence next to me.

"Try not to go missing like the others, yeah?" Ishar said.

"If I do then all of you should just abandon this place. If it can find and eliminate me before I can escape, then there's a high chance none of you will see it coming."

Circling the wagon, I begin running towards the same spot I had just left earlier.

Shana's clone catches up soon after, running alongside me. "Were you always this fast?"

"Not until I absorbed that Chimera."

And this is nothing. In a wide-open field like this with no obstructions, I could easily reach forty-five miles an hour without overexerting myself. Of course, that is only possible if I'm able to run a straight line with no obstacles in the way. But I'm not going to do that right now with my aura off. I could easily die if something attacks me while I'm at max speed and unable to properly react. The Demon won't be able to reach Nisha anymore, so I'd rather not put myself in a bad position if it decides to choose me next.