Intruder

What's left. The words's came out of his mouth without realizing. Was that truly the case? He knew every time he transformed to Pride, parts of Keita Raigon died and were replaced.

'It has finally come to this...' he thought as he left the village.

Only fragments of Keita remained. His love for his comrades, his self as a human and his greed for power, have been lost along the way. Only a few remained. Helene.

Could he even call himself human with just this? Could he even call himself Keita Raigon? His silver line. His village and Helene. One could not exists without the other. The last of humanity inside his heart. His family. The villagers. They meant nothing without Helene.

'I can no longer transform to my Demon form. Ever...' if he did, his love for Helene might disappear.

Pride and Keita. The two different existences inside his head were no longer. Pride was Keita and Keita was Pride. Human and Demon only mattered to the eyes of others. But there was still hope. For Pride never had the desire to be as he once was. Alone and unstable, unable to love anything but himself. There was no conflict. He had lost any reason to fight. To become stronger? To etch his name in the annals of history? To protect his comrades and humans? None of those things were what he wanted anymore. The reason Keita desired strength was to keep Pride at bay. The reason Pride was unsatisfied was because he couldn't stand being looked down upon. If he and Pride were no longer different, he didn't need strength. If he didn't fight, he wasn't going to be looked down upon.

To begin with, he was a selfish person. Keita left his village by himself for himself. Not for Helene or his family, but for his selfish reasons. Now that these reasons were gone, he lost the will to keep going. Aerch Militia? The only thing he ever received from that organization was money. He had no qualms about abandoning that path. The only thing that mattered any more, was Helene. And she was in the hands of another man.

'That Abot bastard, if he touched even a hair of my Helene, he is going to pay.' Keita fantasized about all the different kinds of torture he would cause Lord Abot. He knew the rumors about him. About what he did to his wives. Hurting him, was the only thing that eased his mind.

He quickened his steps. He had no time to lose.

The city of Merioles was the royal capital of Shierna - one of many royal capitals in the human realms. It was the noble's Cariot hem Garven city, who fifty years ago, after the death of the God-King along with many other nobles and generals, decided to call himself king. He was one of the reasons why the human territories were in such a sorry state. The God-King left no ancestors and an empty throne. Like vultures, the royal family, the nobles and his generals squabbled among each other. And the result was this. Every idiot with lands on his name and money declared himself the rightful king. The only thing keeping the human's together from extinction was the neutral Aerch Militia which has suffered it's share of misfortune because of that choice. Keita had no more desires of someday bringing the human's together, following the God-King's steps. It was not a throne or political power that he desired at that time, but none of this mattered anymore.

Merioles was still far away. Two days on foot. He could probably make it into one, thanks to Haste but he would be too exhausted to fight. Even though he was impatient, he tried to think calmly. After making it into the city, he had to find an inn. Before the first light, that was when he was going to make his move. It was a matter of hours. He was going to see Helene again.

It was late noon when the city walls came into view. The city stood up to it's name, as the royal capital. If it was any other time, Keita would have taken the time to take in, the intimidation of the tall and strong stone walls. The glory of the royal palace, situated in the center of the town on top a hill, able to be seen clearly even outside the city. The thick round towers with siege ballistas on top of them was really a feast for the eyes. If it was the him of the past, he might have even vowed to make this city his own. But it wasn't. He dashed to the gate, exhausted and almost completely drained of magic power.

"Halt!" the guards at the gates shouted. "We need to check you before you enter the city."

'Ah, to check my magic power...' Keita remembered. Lust and Envy's tactics have truly been engraved to the human's minds.

"I have my Aerch Militia card. Is that enough?" he asked, taking out his card. Since he hasn't been given an insignia yet - since he was still a bronze rank soldier - that card was his only tie to Aerch.

The guard took the card out of Keita's hands.

"Reason for visitation?" he asked.

"Passing through." Keita responded.

With a nod, the guard returned the card and Keita was allowed inside the city.

'I guess, even if I leave Aerch, I should hold onto this.' he thought and went inside.

Keita's first stop was Lord Abot's estate. He wanted to storm the place right this second but he knew he couldn't. He settled at looking from afar, canvasing the area. After asking around, he made his way to the estate.

It was like a small fort inside the city. The estate had stone walls and towers with bowmen inside. Fully armored guards at the gates and inside the gardens. Abot was a careful and cowardly man it seemed. He knew he was hated so he took the necessary precautions.

'More than 100 men...' Keita sensed the guards' magic power and counted. They were more than he originally thought. 'It doesn't change anything though.'

He couldn't sense anything from inside the estate, just the gardens. There weren't many ways to hide magic power inside a whole building but a man with Abot's resources should be able to hire Mages specialized in that kind of barriers.

Keita's disdain of the man grew even larger. This secrecy cannot mean anything good for would be intruders. He circled the estate many times, before concluding that there were no openings he could exploit.

'Breaking through the front...' he thought, as his only choice. He was not unwilling but it would mean alerting the city guard. Escaping with Helene would be even harder.

Since he couldn't find anything else, he decided to go to an inn. Somewhere close by.

'Even though, I though my heart would be a lot more unsettled, I am surprisingly calm.' he looked around for an inn. 'Helene, just wait for me.'

There was only one inn close to the estate. He entered without hesitation and approached the counter.

"One room for one night." he said the innkeeper.

The innkeeper didn't respond. He took a good look at Keita from top to bottom. He seemed to linger in his eyes.

"It's three gold coins per night. If you wait a moment, I will show you to your room." he finally said.

He seemed like a rough man, well over his prime and seen some years in battle. His voice was coarse and the way he climbed the stairs betrayed an old injury that never healed.

Keita followed with no further discussion. The room was on the first floor. The innkeeper opened the door and went inside. It felt kind of odd to Keita that he went inside his room but went after him anyway. The room was nothing special. A bed and a bucket of water to wash himself. The innkeeper closed the door with him still inside. Keita turned. He sensed some trouble.

"Are you after Lord Abot?" the innkeeper asked.