The Dakken Union convoy had passed the plains and fields of the countryside and carefully begun navigating the forests of the region where Leoris belonged. It was the middle of the night seem content to stay at his seat within the helm of the flagship. His legs crossed while he wore a curious smile while looking over reports on his display.
Standing in the path before the vans was the brimmed hat Fallen with his hand on the pommel of his great sword. Flanking him were four of the Fallen and half a dozen hooded hunters from Leoris. Kurei, who had awakened below by the sudden deceleration of the van, moved up to the deck asking, “What do we have here?”
Arata said, “I just do not know. Could someone turn on the loudspeaker for me, please?” One of the crewmembers hit several switches while another handed a device to Arata for him to speak into. “Hello, hello. This is Commander Arata of the Dakken Union. Please get off the road so that we may keep going without having to clean you off it?”
The large fallen pulled on his brim hat before saying to himself, “Fucking descendant prick. What is his game?” He then tossed his hat and his long jacket, revealing a bulging frame. His sleeves rolled up to his biceps, revealing his arms covered in tribal markings. He plunged his sword into the earth and walked up behind one of the fallen that accompanied him. In a smooth motion, he snapped his neck with an audible pop before it fell lifeless to the ground.
The rest of his party scrambled around him with the cloaked monsters twisting and hissing. One leapt at him while trying to impale his face with a sharpened limb. The adept Fallen grabbed its arm and swung it into another monster, batting it away. He then slammed it to the ground, stomping its face to a dark pulp. He then grabbed his great sword and went to work skillfully dispatching the remaining fallen and monsters with relative ease. None had stood a chance. He then glared up at the window.
The crew of the helm all exchanged nervous glances. Arata was tapping at the arm of his chair. “Kurei, would you mind going out there to determine what his issue is? I don’t want to waste the chrism it would take to kill him with the mounted guns.”
Kurei glared at Arata with contempt. “I never said I would take orders from you. But that thing out there seems capable. None of our men probably stand a stance. I’m grabbing my gear and I’ll meet him out there.”
It was moments later that Kurei took the field. Kurei had placed metal gauntlets over his hands with a colorless scrap of metal over the knuckles and back hand. He had also donned plated metal greaves with colorless plates over the shins, knees, and tops of his feet.
The fallen stood at least half a head taller than him, but said, “You are big for a human. Are you sure you are up to the task?”
Kurei punched one hand into the other and the monochrome plates sparked a bright iridescent yellow. “You are big for a dead man. Want to get going yet?”
The Fallen grabbed his sword and held it flat like a shield as he pushed into Kurei’s range. Kurei jabbed at the sword and a yellow eruption struck through the air, pushing the Fallen many feet back. He was undeterred and showed no injury as he swung hard in a horizontal stroke with both hands. Kurei pounced hard on the surface that burst below his feet. His foot work was a blur of lightning as the yellow plates lit up while Kurei sidestepped.
The Fallen's powerful strike missed Kurei, and his sword sunk into the ground with a loud thud. Kurei kicked the sword, throwing the Fallen off balance. Kurei moved into the range of the Fallen and charged towards him, thrusting with both fists. While the fists never touched the Fallen, they exploded the air right before him in a golden flash, sending him flying backward and rolling into the ground off the pavement.
The Fallen was unhurt and dusted himself off, still sitting on the ground. “Moves like a descendant, so must be a descendant. Kind of unfair for you to have Dragon breath ore on top of that. Tell Arata to get down here. I’m sure he got whatever he wanted from this exchange.”
“I should have figured,” Kurei said about the time Arata came strolling up the side of the road, out of sight from the crew in the van.
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“Oh my, I was afraid for your safety, Kurei, and thought I would come and check on you,” Arata said, holding both his hands up while clapping and grinning at the two.
“Cut the shit descendant. Are you interested in learning what I discovered about the situation in Leoris? Or did you just need to measure how one of your kind did against me?” the Fallen asked.
“Kurei, this here is Tukrit. In the past, he would hunt down his own kind that had grown long in the tooth and became mindless beasts. I found him escaping Ouren’s prison while we were investigating the Glass Road malfunction, and we came to a mutual agreement where he is now my agent and authority on affairs with the Fallen.” Arata bent down to assess Tukrit on the ground. “You did better than I thought against our former warden.”
Tukrit stood and adjusted his clothes. "It's good to see that all wardens uphold the values you're known for. Any other descendant would have tried to kill me right away. If you want to save the people in Leoris, you will need to hurry. I was going to take care of the problem myself, but when I saw the matriarch up close, I got cold feet. Matriarchs are often scary, but this one is off the charts.”
“Details, my big friend. I need them.” Arata insisted.
“I can’t fathom how strong and how absurd her abilities must be to produce as many offspring as she had handy. I learned to guard my mind against matriarchs when I trained to hunt the feral ones. But standing in front of her, I could feel her clawing at my grey matter. Still I kept it together and she shouldn’t have been able to track me with her web. Even weaker matriarchs would take a well-prepared team of us to euthanize.”
“I can vouch for that. The only time the wardens saw Jonah in a bad way other than the battle against Ivalic was when he returned from slaying a matriarch that was terrorizing the northern border of the Farland. The Fallen tribes we dealt with never asked us to help with a matriarch when they cropped up. Except for that one time. They are a well kept secret for the Fallen.” Kurei said.
Arata looked thoughtfully towards the sky before asking, “Was there anything else you could find out? I know an agent from the Lux is in Leoris with Desdin, another former warden.”
“She feels threatened by something that showed up in Leoris. It was why she called out to the other Fallen and began aggressively breeding. No Fallen in their right mind will answer her frenzied call. It isn’t hard for us to discern her insanity and broken intentions,” said Tukrit as he walked over to the road, gathering his things. “You can have the bodies here for your investigation. I’m going to observe the events in Leoris up front.”
“I’ve never actually asked any of the Fallen in person. I know that the tribes in the slums of the capital are merely desperately seeking refuge, so it is hard to get them to open up. But you are an active participant. What is it you hope to gain in allying with the Union?” Kurei inquired while earnestly looking at Tukrit.
“The Glass Road that kept the danger to the North and the Farland for the past millennia is no more. The shame of the Fallen that escaped needs to be dealt with if we want the world to learn to trust the rest of us. I hope to gain a foothold of co-existence for our peoples. That and the tribe I was from also are interested in our history and origins. We were following rumors about a certain Fallen, but it is a ghost story. However, I realized something after I got here and witnessed the observatory and the mountains in the distance. There was a sketch in one of our books. This place was home to a Fallen tribe centuries ago. So, I can take note of that for back home at least.” Tukrit waved as he disappeared into the pines to the east.
“Well, that was a heartfelt exchange. Shall we be on our way, Kurei? I’ll send some of my men out for the bodies out here. I’m curious to see what she did to the ones that were human,” Arata said while morbidly admiring the dead.
“Yea, are you going to be ready for a full on military operation if we arrive in Leoris and shit goes south? You and I aren’t Jonah, and this thing may actually be a threat.” Kurei asked while following Arata.
Arata looked back and smirked with his eyes brimming wide with excitement. “I’m counting on it. We have enough firepower to wipe that town off the map if the need requires it by sheer force. But I desire to know the status of Esthea’s favorite warden. I’ve also yet to see an awakened up close. So much to learn when we get to Leoris. I’m sure there will be a surprise or two in store for us. I can’t wait to unwrap all the gifts.”
Eyes were burning into the back of Arata, who turned towards Kurei and cocked his head to the side. “Is there something you wish to say, mister former warden, or no, it is ‘Union Special Guard’ now?”
Kurei spit before walking up the stairs to the flagship. “The wardens had bounties for the descendants or Union officers we could engage in battle. I was just thinking yours should have been much higher than it was.”
Arata snickered to himself and rested back at the helm. “You’ve only been my bodyguard for a short time. You have seen nothing yet, special guard. Jonah was obsessed with unraveling the secrets of Dragsil. I have been busy checking beneath all the stones he left unturned. And boy, let me tell you, the Oldest do not like to share their playthings from their toy chest. But they leave them lying around all over the place.”