I laid there on a cool patch of dirt with my friends as bits of blue peeked through the foliage above us. It was a warm summer day, and the sky was clear, with the occasional flock of birds passing through. The trees lightly waved from the breeze passing through, and the sounds of various critters could be heard throughout the forest. We were lying there, making jokes and laughing with no care in the world.
The sun was directly over us, bestowing its warmth on us, allowing us to either traverse the forest freely or find a nice spot for us to look up at the sky on a clear day, like today. Despite wanting to just lay there all day, enjoying the gifts that nature shares with us daily, we had to eventually get up as we started to smell lunch as the wind flowed over us. Generally, by this time of day, we had to return to our mountain village as we still had a few chores to do before dark. I looked over at my friend to my right, but something seemed off.
Suddenly, the sky became dark, and the ground started to split open around us, separating us from each other. The ground beneath them began to crumble, but as I tried to reach out for one of them, their faces turned into black spiral-like circles, calling out my name as they fell. As things continued to break all around me, I sat in a ball, crying, unsure what to do. What could I even do in this situation? I screamed out for help. “HELP! MOMA, PAPA, I NEED HELP!” As a portal opened above me, a hand started to reach for me.
“GRAB ON!” a voice shouted. “HURRY!” I reached up for the hand and thought I had grabbed it. The hand kept getting closer and closer until the arm was stretched out so far that it was literally touching me. I stood there as the portal closed, and the hand dissipated. The ground around me, now hot with lava, caused me to let out a scream as the planet around me exploded.
I woke up unaware of who I was or even where I was. I sat straight up and felt myself. I was my normal self, at least I thought I was. I looked at my hands as they trembled from the end of what I thought was a dream. I was unsure about that thought as I could smell and hear everything I had experienced in that dream. I lay my head back against the bed, uncertain of what had happened.
I heard something muffled off to my right but felt groggy and couldn’t see my hands all that well. I tried to visually investigate the direction of where I thought I heard something and noticed a couple of incredibly distorted-looking figures that appeared to be tall and another that was short. I squinted my eyes, still unable to make anything out around me. Whatever this smaller distortion was, it came rushing at me and jumped at me.
I panicked as I still could not see and covered my face with my arms. I felt something warm brush against my leg and felt what may have been a finger touch my arm. I heard more muffled noises, but this time, it was closer, and the vibrations felt as though it was coming directly in front of me.
I saw another hand appear over my face and something glowing. Slowly, my vision returned to normal. I looked around. On my lap was Selyse, to my right, was the Master Healer, and there was also a guard there. I looked around the room further, but didn’t recognize anything in the room. I was happy to see Selyse in front of me. She had a massive smile on her face.
She looked at the Master Healer.
“Now, now, young lady, remember what I said by allowing you in here.” He said to her, sounding like he was about to scold her.
Her smile disappeared as he said this. The guard looked over and used his eyes to indicate that it may have been time for her to go. She sighed softly as the guard walked over, gently lifted her off the bed, and placed her on the ground.
“Come human, let the Healer and Thadeus have a moment” he said to her as he grabbed her hand. He made sure that I was watching before grabbing her hand. I nodded to him as they quietly walked out, shutting the door behind them. The healer was looking over his shoulder, listening. After he was sure they were gone, he looked back at me.
“Upon hearing of your return to the castle, it caused quite a disturbance. You have been out cold for nearly a month. Had you not killed that vile monster, things would have probably been very different for you right now, but before Gabriel finds out you’re awake, I wish to ask you a question. This is not me asking, but me telling you.” He quietly said, glancing at the door every now and again while speaking.
I nodded.
“Judging from the evidence from where you were found, there’s a spot on the ground where you fought it. To those not trained properly in the field, there’s nothing there.” He stated, starting to stand up and groaning as he stood. “But…” he paused and looked at the door again, briefly staying silent. He sat down on the bed with his back facing me, turning his head towards me.
“But, I went there myself to expel any remains that may remained there and I am a Master Level healer and I can tell that you expelled that vile creature using the very technique I taught you. How did you know what would work?” his tone was still soft, as though he didn’t want anyone else to know. “Just so you are aware, Gabriel is aware that you killed it. He doesn’t care how you did it, just that you did.” He added.
I sat up and scooted myself back to where I could see the side of his face better.
“Master Healer…” I hesitantly said. I was starting to wonder if I had made a mistake, but I decided to tell him the truth. “Master Healer, just before I went through the portal, I ran into a medical assistant who led me to three young soldiers who had returned from the zone. Upon healing two living and trying it on an nonliving being, it brought the dead one back to the living while fighting that vile creature...” I paused as he looked at the door again. He stood up and quietly walked over to the door, placing his ear against it. We heard footsteps walk past us.
He looked at me. “It's okay; it’s not a guard but a servant.” Then he came back and sat in the same position.
“Continue, Master Angel,” he stated.
“While fighting that vile creature I took a good look at it, and seeing how it appeared to be dead, I decided to give it a try. So I sheathed my swords, raised my hand, and charged.” I said calmly. I looked down at my hand before speaking again. “It was quick and appeared to predict my moves easily. So, rather than trying to catch it off guard, I decided to jump directly at it and put as much power as I could muster into this blow. Next thing I know, I woke up near the portal where Captain Darius and his men were guarding and had set up a circle around me. I remember looking up at the sky before passing back out. Then I… I awoke here…” I explained.
He reached into a pocket on his cloak, revealing a piece of paper, and handed it to me. It appeared to be dirty and looked as though it was stepped on as there were footprints all over it. I squinted at it, still having slight issues seeing.
Once my eyes focused, I realized that it was the note that Captain Darius had given to me. I looked back at the Healer.
“This is serious, Master Thadeus. It is dire. Have you anything to do with their little scheme?” His voice sounded like a mixture of concern, anger, and insinuating I had something to do with it.
“No, I have no intention of cooperating with them whatsoever. I remember reading this before I passed out and telling the Captain I wanted no part of this.” I said, hoping he’d believe me.
“Other than you, myself, and those bloody idiots, nobody else knows. I have kept it a secret for the last several weeks as I wanted to believe that you were innocent, and I can tell that you’re being truthful” He had let out a massive sigh of relief after he had said that, even chuckling.
“Wait, weeks?” I asked, confused. “How long exactly have I been out for?”
“Well, let's see… if I count how many round moons we've gone through, about uhh…” he took a more human-like form and started counting on his fingers.
“Uhhh, 1.. 2.. plus there was the yellow moon, so 5… 6… uhhh about two months.” He replied, after he was confident with his math. I was about to speak, but he continued on.
“You see, young master Thadeus… that healing ability uses a mixture of Holy & Divine energy from within. You are fine if you use it in small bursts, such as healing those three young soldiers. Oh yeah, don’t think I couldn’t figure that out. Nobody else could heal that severity of wounds except for five of us; you are one of those five. You messed up by trying to make it appear as though they were healed to the best of an unskilled healer's ability but healed far too much than that of a staging area healer’s capability. Don’t worry about it, though; you did it well.” He said, sounding as if he was lecturing me but also proud of me. “Anyways, while you have a decent amount of energy in both aspects, if you far exceed what you’re capable of, you will pass out every time.”
I looked at him in awe, as I couldn’t find any words. I was more interested in continuing to listen to him.
“Had your blast not temporarily disabled the portal from both sides and caused a mass panic on this side, I would not have gone in to investigate on my own. The amount of raw energy and power you put out exceeds the amount of energy you had one hundred times over.” He looked at the door. “I have to say, though, Master Thadeus. For how fucking reckless and dumb that was, you got lucky. The target you took out in a matter of moments had killed thousands of troops between friendly and enemy races and infected many others with its plague.” He stood up, placing his hands on his sides, sighing.
“Gabriel wants to talk to you and wanted to do it the moment you woke up. But instead, I thought the first person you should see is your servant as she had been asking about you, and had you not threatened that one guard to ensure her safety… well, she drove everyone but the other servants crazy.” He let out a laugh. “You sure do have a wild one, Thadeus. She pushed that guards’ buttons constantly and would poke the limits of what she could/couldn’t get away with, even running into an area where servants weren’t allowed. My, that was quite the commotion. Luckily for you, Gabriel never caught wind relating to her escapades.” he said in between breaths from laughing so hard.
He walked to the door and opened it, waving as he left.
I swung my legs out to the edge of the bed, placing my feet against the ground. I leaned forward, rubbing my eyes while trying to process all the information the Healer dumped on me. I wondered how Selyse managed to cause enough trouble to drive a guard up the walls so severely. I was possibly going to have to find a way to punish her. Although I didn’t see her as a slave or servant, I knew if I didn’t attempt to keep her in check, it may have caused her and the other servants that I’m working so hard to protect from everyone else, to be completely taken away from me or something far worse. I started to realize that I was taking a lot of time thinking when I should be more focused on trying to find Gabriel to see what it was he wanted to talk about and why. I loathed having to be in his presence and wished I would’ve just remained asleep for another couple of months. But… I knew I had to get it done and over with.
I stood up and slowly walked to the door. As I put my hand on the handle, I felt the door hit me in the head. I quickly grabbed at my head. “Fucking damnit, who the fu-…” I shouted. I realized this door was not made from wood, but iron. On the other side was one of Gabriel’s servants, who had a patch sewn onto her shirt, suggesting she was free to travel wherever within the castle's confines.
She backed up and quickly changed into a more humanoid form, placing her hands on her shirt and promptly lifting it to her face. “Oh my, I’m so sorry, Lord Master Thadeus; please, look at my breasts. Does this please you or help you feel any better?” she quickly responded.
I walked over to her and gently pushed her against the wall. “Put your shirt down.” I demanded as I was rubbing my head. “I get that you have a ‘Free Pass’ badge on your shirt, but you really ought to knock. Why are you here?”
She looked at me puzzled, like her breasts would have made me feel better after she tried to barge in, and slamming the door into my head would make the pain just go away.
“Lord Thadeus, it is by the request of Master Lord Gabriel of the Holy Order, that you seek an audience with now that you have awaken from your slumber. You shall report to him in his office at once.” She quickly said, wanting to get out of my sight quickly. “Also, my lord, if you could- oh dear, okay, there’s a lump on your head.” She said, sounding worried.
“You’re coming with me.”
She looked at me, and her facial expression changed from concern to fear. She looked down at the ground and quietly said, “Yes, my lord angel… I’ll lead the way…” and took off towards the stairs with me in tow. Never once did she look up at all, not even when we ran into someone else in the stairwell. She had just remained silent, never once looking up.
When we got to the top, she turned to me but didn’t look at me. “anything else, my lord?” she said quietly.
“Yeah..” I said as I turned her around, holding her shoulder as we walked to Gabriel’s office door. She knocked at the door, and just like before, it opened with Gabriel sitting at his desk. He stood up but saw the Servant looking like she had just witnessed her dog get run over.
Gabriel went from a smile to a confused look on his face. He came from around the desk and inspected the back of her neck for a second before approaching me and seeing a large lump on my head. He looked at it closely before looking at the female, then looking at me again, then looking at her one final time before he finally said something.
“I don’t know what is going on here, but I can only assume I’ll have to punish this one.” He said, sounding sure he finally understood what was going on.
She started to cry a little bit.
“My lord,” I started, turning his attention to me. “The lump on my head did not come from her, but from my own doing.” I said.
“Oh?” Gabriel asked, confused.
“Yes, my lord,” I bowed. “I did not realize the door of the room I slept in had a heavy iron door, and when I opened it to reveal your servant at my door, it slipped out of my hand and hit me in the head. I requested that she lead the way to ensure I made it here. Had I passed out again, I wanted to ensure that she could find help for me to prevent you from having to wait another day because of my careless actions. I said, adjusting from a bow to a kneel, sounding as if it was a mistake on my part.
“Oh. Okay then, Master Thadeus. So will you dismiss her, or do you require her company?” he asked, his tone indicating he wasn’t sure about this whole situation.
I gently grabbed the servant by her right shoulder and turned her to face me. She slowly looked me in the eyes and waited for me to speak. I took a step to the side.
“Thank you. You may return to your duties.” I said softly, with a smile.
She wasted no time in taking off down the hallway to the stairs. I looked at Gabriel again, and he motioned for me to come in. I stepped in as the door shut behind me. I didn’t look at who closed the door as I already had a general idea.
Gabriel sat in his chair, leaning down to reach for something under his desk. “Well, Thadeus, take a seat.”
I sat at a chair near his desk, not knowing what he intended to bring out from under it. I was surprised that he had no servants in the room besides the one by the door. I turned around slightly, peering over to the door, and noticed a male servant. This struck me as weird, considering Gabriel normally kept female servants in his presence.
I saw Gabriel finally come out from under his desk, holding a small wooden keg, and placed it on the desk, followed by two small glasses. He filled both cups up, placing one in front of me. I grabbed it and brought it up to my nose. It had a sweet fragrance to it, with a purple color. I slowly pressed the cup to my lips, taking a short sip. It had a sweet taste to it, almost that of honey. I placed the cup down.
I was unsure if this was a formal meeting or casual. The vibes of the room came off as casual, but with Gabriel, you never knew.
“So, Thadeus. Now that you’re awake, I’d like to have a conversation with you about what occurred during the mission, as it’s been a couple of weeks since your return.” He quietly said while looking at the servant.
The servant nodded and walked outside, shutting the door behind him. His eyes went back to me.“So, first, I’d like to tell you that I am pleased with the work you did out there. Had I known all I had to do was send you to do it, I would have assigned you the task ages ago. That damn Lich was causing many problems for Order controlled territory. Secondly, you didn’t fully complete your mission, as you failed to gather information on a small remote outpost we had out there. When we had pulled out of there,” As he was talking, I took another sip of wine. “We left behind a small castle-like structure which had a horn on the roof that acted as a detection outpost. We haven’t received word from anyone there yet. Due to you failing to gather information about it, I will not be able to honor our agreement.” he said, with a smile. He thought he had come out on top of the deal we had made.
I looked at the glass, nearly empty now, and let out a chuckle. The structure he mentioned, I had scouted it when I had flown into the air to get a good look of the surrounding area. It had been razed to the ground, except for the foundation.
Gabriel looked at me, confused as to why I had chuckled after giving me the terrible news. I grabbed the glass and raised it in the air between us. “Cheers, sir.” I said. He lifted his glass up into the air, and our glasses came together with a clank sound. I downed the rest of the wine in my glass.
“Well, about that…” I started. He looked at me while he was emptying the rest of his glass into his mouth. “Upon arrival, I had discovered that while within the Secured Zone, I was unable to fly high enough to see anything as the barriers prevented me from doing that. But, once outside, I had found a spot that allowed me to fly up high enough to see the surroundings…”
Gabriel looked as though he understood where I was going with this as the smirk on his face turned upside down.
“The building you mentioned was razed to the ground. There was nothing of interest that I could see over there. Had I not engaged that Lich, and had I not passed out, nor woke up here in the kingdom… I would have fully explored the place and brought you back a brick from the place.”
I laughed hard. The wine had hit me halfway through the conversation, and seeing as how Gabriel thought he had the upper hand, I found it to be quite entertaining to see him go from thinking he had me to me pulling a reversal on him.
Gabriel took the glass out of my hand and threw it at the door. He reached into his desk, retrieving a piece of parchment and a quill. “Give me your arm,” he demanded. “If I am going to write an agreement for you, I will do it using your own blood. Be thankful I am chalking your defiance up currently to the wine speaking on your behalf.” He angrily said, looking as if he was beyond pissed off.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I held my arm out on the table as he used a small blade to make a light cut in my arm. Once blood started to slowly ooze from my arm, he took the tip of the quill, ensuring that he had enough to write with it, before turning his attention back to the parchment and writing super quickly. Once he had finished, he threw the quill down.
“Take your shit and get the fuck out of my office.” He said as he turned his chair around and faced the wall, sounding defeated.
I picked up the parchment, but the blood was still wet. I walked out of his office, and to my surprise, the servant was still there. I looked at him as I walked past him. The look on his face appeared as though he was surprised at the results of that. He walked in, attempting to walk into the office, but quickly ran out and shut the door after hearing Gabriel shout, “I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE. GET LOST YOU ASSHOLE.”
I stood there in the hallway, blowing gently on the words until I was sure they were dry, and rolled it up. I looked at the servant again, giving him a nod as I walked towards the staircase. I felt as though I just managed to have a major victory against Gabriel, but I started to wonder what crazy set of tasks he’d send me on next with a stupid twist to it.
I decided to go down to the floor that I had declared I wanted had I completed the task successfully. When I got there, I saw the guard that I had assigned to keep track of Selyse standing with his back to the door. He looked relieved to see me there and bowed. I walked over to him and placed my hand on my shoulder.
“I trust nothing is out of place with my Servant?” I asked him.
He looked at me as if he was thankful, he was about done with this task I gave him, and judging from what the Master Healer told me, I couldn’t blame him at all. “Yes, Master Angel, your servant was slightly problematic, but I kept her safe. I hope the Arch Lord gave you this floor so I no longer have to deal with your demon anymore. I’d rather go back to doing the petty missions the lower scum get sent on than deal with her.” He said, sounding as if he were exhausted.
I chuckled. It was quite amusing to me that he would rather risk not coming back alive than having to deal with Selyse. I started to consider assigning this guard to watch her again if I volunteered for another mission soon.
“If you wish to return to other duties, I wish to inspect my servants as I want to ensure that you did what was expected and kept them all safe. Once I’ve inspected them and deemed them to be okay, I will allow you to leave.” I said, intentionally trying to make him antsy.
He glared at me but turned around, knocking three times at the door before entering. This is odd; he had never knocked before.
Selyse and six other females sat in the middle of the room, looking surprised to see me, except for Selyse. I was surprised to see that Gabriel came through with giving the servants new clothing that didn’t look like it had been drug through mud and other debris.
“Young ladies, please, I need you to all stand up and strip naked.” I stated. They all gave me a weird look, except for Selyse, who excitedly said, “Yes, master!” and instantly shed her clothing. The rest of the females looked at her, then at one another, before removing their clothing. Before me, stood 3 female humans and 4 female Angels, all naked now.
“You four, please match the others, as it’ll make the inspection easier. If any of you have any fresh wounds or broken/fractured bones, this guard right here has been responsible for your safety while I’ve been away.”
I walked over to them, inspecting the first one on the far left first. I looked her up and down, poking around her all over as I had done with Selyse in the past. She had what appeared to be a scar from an old injury just above her left breast. “What’s this from?” I asked her.
She looked down, holding her hands slightly away from her very bushy crotch, and stated, “My family and I were attacked by bandits when I was a child. I was hit by an arrow, but thankfully, I wasn’t killed.” Her voice sounded as if it was painful to talk about.
“Okay, I’ll move on. I’m going to check out your mid-region. Then I’m going to turn you around and inspect your back and rear to ensure that you weren’t touched.”
She nodded. I looked back at the guard and noticed he looked nervous. He may be thinking I might try to pin an old injury on him and forsake him with death. Which, looking back at it now, would have been funny. However, that wasn’t my style. I spun her around and noticed she had what seemed like a bruise on her shoulder. I touched it, but she didn’t react. “Did that hurt?”
She shook her head slowly.
I continued to gently poke all around her body to ensure nothing seemed out of place, carefully monitoring for any tensing or verbal noises indicating any sort of pain. After I was convinced she was okay, I turned her to face me again. While I was giving her another visual look over, her nipples caught my attention. They were very hard as rocks and very pink in color.
“S-sir… I am human, and while it may be warm for you, it’s cold for us. I do not wish to rush you, but if you could please finish, the others and I would appreciate it.” She said between shivers. I looked at her, nodding, and picked up her clothes, which I handed to her. This process repeated for the next couple of females. When I got to the last human female of that group, something looked off with her eye. I looked back at the guard, who was slowly trying to inch away.
I turned around, grabbed his arm, and threw him to the ground. As he hit the ground, a loud crashing sound was heard. Except for the one I was inspecting, the servants didn’t waste any time quickly grabbing their clothes and retreating to the wall furthest away from the commotion. I noticed Selyse picked something up that had fallen out of his armor but didn’t care at the time.
I looked at her as I put my foot on the soldier. “Did this one do this to you?” I sternly asked.
She started to cry, only mustering a nod.
I turned my attention back to the guard, who was looking up at me with his hands above his face as though he was expecting me to hit him.
“What did I say about harming my servants?” I yelled, knowing full well I only made the deal for Selyse.
He moved one of his hands away from the face.
“My lord…” he started, looking as though he was trying to choose his next words carefully. I looked up to see Selyse run over to me.
“Get back, I’m trying to… What are you doing? Stop that!” Selyse was hitting my other leg.
“Bad man drop note. Note says he do bad thing against Gabriel.” She said, adamant about me taking the note.
“What? Let me see that.”
She handed me the note, and sure enough, it was similar to the note that Captain Darius had given to me. I looked down at the guard, note in hand, trying to figure out what to do. I had the opportunity to get back into Gabriel's good graces or to help with a rebellion. I thought about what option would be better for me to get ahead but quickly came to realize that a rebellion against the Archs and the god-level ruler of the Kingdom would be suicide.
I removed my foot from his side. I had made the decision to take him up to Gabriel himself, along with the note that was found. I looked at him and gave him a grin as he started to crawl away from me, but I grabbed him by the straps on his armor and threw him against the stone wall. I approached him, grabbing him by his neck and lightly choking him.
I turned my head around back to the servants.
“One of you angels, come over here and undo the straps to his armor. I’ve got him choking for air, so he won’t be an issue for you.”
The one I was last inspecting stepped forward, dropped her clothes, and came rushing over. The guard was trying to raise his hand, causing me to squeeze his neck harder. In her haste, she started to fumble, removing the first strap.
“Relax. I got him.” I sternly stated.
“Right, right. Okay? " she said, sighing. Eventually, she undid the first strap and moved on to the second strap.
The guard turned to face me. “I… we… work… together… don’t… this…” he managed to get out, struggling for his breath.
“Ohhhh, no. You’re not going to convince me. Had you left my servants alone, this would not have happened, you piece of shit.” I had a fiery look in my eyes, causing him to want to struggle more. I watched as the second strap came undone, causing his armor to crash and nearly falling on the female who stepped up to assist me. She let out a yelp as she ran back to the others.
Now that he had his armor off and was also disarmed, I let go of his neck and shoved him face-first into the wall, then brought him back to ground level. I grabbed the back of his neck while using my other hand to twist the back of his hand behind him, forcing his view to the ground. I forced him to start walking towards the door. Due to all the commotion, I saw two soldiers from the level under this floor appear with their swords drawn.
“MAKE WAY, MAKE WAY.” I shouted as I came running out with him towards the stairs. The soldiers watched as I ran past them, holding this guard in such a way that made it so he couldn’t resist me. The soldiers started to follow us into the stairwell, I heard someone above us near the stair entry. “MAKE WAY, THE RIGHT HAND COMING THROUGH WITH A PRISONER, MAKE WAY” I shouted as we continued running up. I picked the pace up and continued yelling every time I thought I heard someone.
When we finally reached the top, I threw the guard at Gabriel’s door so hard that he busted through, rolling into the desk, knocking it back slightly. Gabriel was standing by the window when this happened. He looked down at the guard before looking out the door and seeing me with a look of anger, followed by two soldiers with their weapons drawn.
“Right hand, what in the name of the Holy Order is going on here, and why is this Angel in my office? I demand an answer!” he yelled.
“My lord, I present to you a traitor to the Holy Order, and it goes far deeper than just him as I believe Captain Darius and all of his men are involved as I believe they are planning to make an attempt to overthrow you and the other Holy Order members, as well as the one who has brought life to us, this Kingdom and others around us.” I confidently stated while kneeling just outside the now busted door.
He looked down at the soldier. “Well? What do you have to say about these serious accusations that my right hand, Thadeus, accuses you of?”
The soldier looked up at him; his lip busted, and his arm was bleeding. “My.. my lord, the right hand, he has gone feral. He isn’t right in the head! He treats the servants as if they’re actual people, that young girl who serves him is naught but a friend for him. He…he… he’s gone mad!” he shouted.
Gabriel looked at me, unsure what to do. “Master Thadeus, you do have proof, I hope. This is a very serious accusation that we cannot act upon without proof,” he said while in shock at what had just happened.
I held the note up, offering it to Gabriel.
He walked over, snatched the note from my hand, and started to read it. His facial expression changed from confusion to anger. He looked over to the soldiers, still standing outside by the steps. “Soldiers! Declare an emergency, lock down the castle, and sound the alarms to alert the others of what is going on! QUICKLY!” He shouted.
Gabriel quickly grabbed a pair of the cuffs he normally used for his office slaves from the wall and placed them on the traitor. Once he was convinced that he was going to run away, he looked up at me.
“Young Master Thadeus, this note is some damning evidence. Where’d you get this, and how do you know if it’s also connected to Captain Darius?” he asked, seeming unsure how Captain Darius fit in with this whole situation.
Outside, we heard multiple bells and horns going off. I stepped over the traitor to look out the window. Down below, I could see numerous soldiers running around, securing vital spots around the castle, seeing barriers rise from the ground, and hearing random shouts that I couldn’t quite make out from all the way up in this tower.
“Masters Gabriel and Thadeus.” We heard from behind us. We turned around to see the Master Healer standing in the doorway.
“Not now, Genesis. We’ve got much on our hands right now.” He snapped.
I walked over to Genesis and saw him holding the dirtied note from before. He handed it to me.
“My lord, this was the note Captain Darius gave to me when I regained consciousness before I passed out again before my arrival back here. The Master Lor-… Genesis, found this while scoping out the area. Upon waking up, he asked me about it himself. I told him he should bring it to your attention, but it appears that I was too quick approaching you first.” I stated, kneeling, presenting the note to Gabriel.
He came over and snatched the note out of hand. He glanced at it before letting out a sigh.
“Who else other than you two know about this?” he asked, sounding annoyed. He returned to looking out the window, resting his hands against the wall. He sighed again.
“Thank you, Thadeus, for bringing this to my attention, and thank you, Genesis. What a shame, though. Captain Darius and his men were some of the best soldiers, too.” He said quietly. He turned away from the window, looking at the traitor on the ground. He kneeled down next to him, placing his hand on the former guard’s head.
“So. let's find out who is working with you since you’re not going to talk. Thadeus, I’d like for you to pay attention to this. I’m going to teach you this technique as it’d greatly benefit both of us for you to learn it. You place your hand on their head like this, then you manipulate your energy to act as your eyes and ears and request certain memories to be pulled with your energy. If you do it correctly, you’ll be able to find what it is you seek.”
I listened closely while also watching. Gabriels’s hand twitched, and his eyes closed. The traitor’s face looked as though he had just experienced something that scared him beyond belief. After a few moments, Gabriel removed his hand, opened his eyes, and stood up. He looked at me.
“Well, well, well… Master Thadeus, do you know what I found out?” he asked as if I were potentially next.
“No idea, sir; please do tell, though.” I said, trying to hide my nervousness.
“He so kindly informed me of some interesting things, and I want you to know that what you did here today prevented more bloodshed than needed. It appears that the entirety of the Order’s Holy Guard and various other soldiers are all part of this. While the others may not like it…” he paused momentarily, looking out the window. “I am going to appoint you as the new leader for the Order’s Hold Guard division, as it’s clear that you are the most fit for the job considering your track record and your devotion to the Kingdom itself. I may reassign you at any given time when I feel as though you have found suitable replacements to take your position.”
Halfway through him speaking to me, I had started feeling lightheaded, unable to truly listen to his words. I suddenly just collapsed to the floor, and things went black again. I could feel myself being carried down the flight of stairs in a rushed manner but couldn’t open my eyes. I could hear, though.
I heard Genesis’ voice yelling frantically at the guards carrying me to take me to his quarters and quickly place me on the floor, and something about how the Lich had infected me after all. I started to feel hot, and I began to see images through what appeared to be my eyelids. I was starting to see myself running from several of those beings and their soldiers. No matter how hard or quick I tried running, they were always right there behind me.
“MASTER THADEUS, STAY WITH US. STAY WITH US….”