44 King Xian's Decision
"Well well, look who decided to show up" Domotraus says as I approach
"The one and only. Yours truly" I respond
"So what was the view up there like? Razz asks
"Up where?" I ask back
"You stayed up there watching everything transpire" he replies
"Ah yes true true" I reply back
Zabre approaches me taking off his helmet revealing the sparkling lightning that crackled a bit on his hair. His face alone was enough to intimidate me. This is probably the third time I've seen it, and the crackling of electricity was still insane, for me at least. It's not an every day thing that you encounter elementals or even a half elemental. Usually in Zlatan, they're half human, and another half from this realm. Elementals are from another plane of existence, the elemental realm. That's pretty much it.
"You sure took your time getting here" Zabre says
"Well yeah, I did meet up with Naxel first" I respond to him in an attempt to bring up the subject Naxel
"Is that so? Well seems like I don't need to explain things then" he replies
"No way! You still need to tell me how he's actually alive! Even the clerics couldn't use their magic to revive him" I say
"According to him, he had met a special man that found his wandering soul. Naxel can't clearly remember, but he made a deal with the man. No, the man isn't a reaper or anything. He's an ordinary fellow, he did say that the man looked pretty familiar but he doesn't know who. He's alive that's all that matters" Zabre says
"You seem pretty calm about his revival" I point out
"Strange right?" he responds
"Very..." I softly say making myself barely heard.
The morning passed by with the cleaning up of area. Naxel and the rest of Hollow Arthas returned back to the Hollow Arthas base. Since this is all over, I didn't see a reason for us to join back with them. As much as I wanted to have free room and service, we just don't have a solid enough reason to join back with them. We stayed for a while on guard on the gate in case any other Gems that remained would return.
"Did anyone see the squad made for scouting and the other guy that served Edengeld?" Razz asks
"Didn't you stay a bit longer in the base? I thought you'd help out Lucas, or the others." I reply
"I was messing around with the items available" he says
"That is just unbelievable" I say back
From a distance we see three figures walking back. We ready our weapons.
"I'll go down and see who they are" I say
"You're not going alone, I'm coming with" Ravenna says
The two of us go down and approach the three figures walking. With the sun high up in the sky and everything around is just a desert, the heat was insane. We got closer and we realized that they were just the three of Hollow Arthas that went on the scouting mission with us. They take off their helmets as soon as they see me and Ravenna. We both ran up to them.
"Seems like you both are doing fine" I say
"Yeah.. our weapons broke during the battle so we got ourselves some new ones" Anglea says
"At least you guys returned in one piece" Ravenna says
"True" Raemo says
"Anyways, what happened with Claude and Lucas?" I ask
"After fighting the Gems with Claude. We immediately went inside and saw Lucas on the floor. He was fighting a devil known as Anthony... according to Claude, he used to be one of Edengeld's servants, something happened to him long ago and he's gone dark. Lucas and Claude are heading back to their base right now. We were able to avoid combat against this Anthony person" Anglea explains
"The battle here ended, some of the people are starting to return back to their homes and the rest of Hollow Arthas went back to their base. You three should go up to them, we're going to see the king once things are done here" I say
"Thank you" Anglea says
The trio return back into the city walls and to their base. We returned with them but going up to the gate to meet up with the group. We got up with them and the three of them were just sitting down laid back to the edge.
"So, how'd it go with them?" Razz asks
"Everything's cool. Now we'll just meet up with the king" I say
"Great, let's go" Domotraus says
Domotraus, the first one to go down followed by Seph and Razz. Ravenna and I followed as well, walking through the streets that are once again active with the people and kids, no corpses or signs of blood on the floor. There are no signs of battles as well, as even though magic was used during the battle. There's no heavy damage at all, like no holes on the ground, or anything that shows damage. Everything felt peaceful. We continued our way going to the castle, and after hours of traveling we finally make it. We entered the gates and the guards let us in, we continued walking until we reached the door that would lead us to the throne room, we stopped there.
"So, anyone's gonna open it or not?" I ask
"You do it, you were the one who met up with the king y'know" Razz says
"Hey, I wasn't the only one" I reply
"Don't be a coward Athel. It's just a door" Seph says
"I'd like to see you open it" I respond
"Ravenna, would you do the honors?" Domotraus suggests
"Oh no no, I wouldn't like to steal the spotlight from you" Ravenna replies back
We stood there talking for a few minutes and the door opens from the inside, the guards pulled it open and the king would be seen sitting on the throne, while the others are standing in line reporting something one by one. The king notices us and he orders everyone to leave.
"The rest of you are dismissed, we'll continue this after an hour" the king says
The people left including the guards. Only the king and the king's advisor stayed in the throne room as we entered.
"Your Majesty" I say "The Gems of Rider have been defeated"
"Yes yes, I have been informed. Including the fight in the entrance. To think they'd be able to get around Hollow Arthas. As for the deal, I will aid you in your quest to defeat Cilan Mamoru. But know this Assassins. The help I can give will be limited, meaning I won't be able to aid you in everything. After all you are the Assassins of Dusk, a single target is just mere practice for you all" the king says
"Indeed, so what shall be done now" Domotraus asks
"My scouts have done some information gathering. Of course, I'm always informed with what's happening, but I will let our general explain the things to you. A month from now, there will be a battle between Zlatan and Erudia. So I suggest once you get what you've learned, you best prepare for the fight" the king says "Senzia, escort the assassins to barracks"
"Yes, Your Majesty" Senzia, the king's advisor replied
Senzia approaches us and leads us out of the castle as we follow her.
