Real Face

Cas was waiting for his team to gather where he was: nearby the hill that lay below his and Clement's house. He was with the friendly griffin, which they named Donovan. Cas patted Donovan's soft head when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Brother, glad to see you're here." Clement said softly.

"Hey Clement! Did you eat?"

"I did, quite a lot in fact heh…"

"That's great, you must have enough energy to hold yourself in a fight now!"

"Maybe, no promises though. Fighting has never been my strong suit." The brothers looked to the night sky. "You know brother, I have actually been enjoying this journey since we left Narrowind, since Greyhart asked me to join this team of his. I find the thrill of adventure… captivating, in a sense." He said smiling, still looking at the moon. Clement's face then lit up. "Oh! And I've made new friends too!"

"Really? You're getting along with Arianne and Diane?"

"Yes, they might seem hard to approach at first, but once you get to know them they're nice!" After saying this, Clement noticed the others walking over. "Oh, looks like everyone's here now."

Diane was walking up to the brothers, Arianne and Evan close behind her, they appeared to be bickering with each other.

"I practically had to drag you by the ears to get you to follow me. I'm impressed though, never thought a church boy could be so resilient."

"You were interrupting me in the middle of a very important meeting with the head priest! Of course I wasn't ready to leave!" Said Evan, being unsuccessful to suppress his frustration. He looked more angered than Arianne, which was a surprise to Cas.

"Thank you Diane for finding the two of them." Clement said kindly.

"Please, all I have done is mediate these two so that one of them doesn't get the other hurt."

Arianne turned to face Cas. "You know of our plan, right? Dimwit hero boy."

Cas sighed. "I have a name. And I know you're ticked off at each other right now, but this isn't the time to argue amongst ourselves! We need to work together to rescue Greyhart and stop Obselok from causing further damage to Prismont. You got that?" The others nodded at their new commander for the time being. "Good. Now let's-"

Diane looked over and pointed at the direction of Obselok. "There is a storm." She blurted out.

"Huh?" Cas asked.

"I can see it. There are large storm clouds fastly approaching Obselok."

"Well we still don't have any time to lose, let's take to the skies!" Yelled Cas.

The team was flying on Donovan, tearing through the night sky as they were soaring towards Obselok. Before long, rain had already begun to fall. They reached a certain point about halfway to Obselok, near the forest that they had camped in earlier that day. Then, Donovan landed on a small elevated part of land. Cas, Arianne, and Evan got off.

"Since we've been caught and identified as invaders, It would be wise to expect a surrounding army defending the entrance of the kingdom. Evan, Arianne, and I will be deployed by Donovan on land to fight them."

"I managed to convince the church to lend us warrior squadrons to assist us. They should be here any moment now." Evan said, glowingly optimistic.

Cas looked at Clement and Diane, who were still on Donovan. "You two will continue forward on Donovan and watch Obselok from above, with Diane's sharp eyes she will detect any dangers. You two are both skilled in handling opponents from afar."

They nodded. Diane pulled on the reins, making Donovan ascend and further advance towards the kingdom.

Moments later, there was still no sight of incoming assistance from Prismont. The three were aimlessly wandering around waiting for the squadrons to arrive and help them as they make their way into Obselok. Suddenly, Cas noticed that something seemed off in the area surrounding them.

"You guys stay put, I sense trouble."

"Is it an ambush?" Evan asked, frightened.

"Forest trolls, they're approaching southeast from here." Cas pointed at the forest nearby. "There's few of them now, but if more show up, they'll prove to be a pain later."

"What are you gonna do?" Inquired Arianne.

"What else is there to do? I'm going after them." He said confidently.

"Tch. Suit yourself, we'll be staying right here until the backup squadrons arrive." Arianne said snarkily.

Cas began running down the hill towards the forest to find the trolls. The two saw him get further away, Arianne turned to Evan and pulled out one of her daggers.

"Now that hero boy's gone…"

"A-Arianne?" His voice quivered.

"Say goodbye, church scum!" She said with a wide grin on her face.

Evan let out a loud yelp, Cas heard and instantly bolted to where they were. Only to see Arianne, holding her dagger to Evan's throat, terror on his face, tears were beginning to form in his eyes.

"Arianne! What are you doing?!"

Arianne tossed Evan aside and chuckled to herself, only to then start laughing in a horrifying manner. "Cas North! You were dumb enough to fall completely into my trap!"

"What are you talking about? You weren't actually trying to kill Evan?"

"Of course not. I knew this feeble church boy would cry out which would lead to you, being so chivalrous and knightly, to promptly come and rescue him."

"I don't understand… Why are you doing this?"

"Oh, you don't understand? Well, that's too bad. We're not just gonna sit here while I tell you everything. We are going to fight."

"Now? You can't be serious, what if the other squadrons show up?"

"Oh that. No need to worry, they won't know a thing."

Arianne pulled out a magic crystal from her bag, which then flashed a bright light. The next thing Cas remembered was falling onto the ground, but he found himself in a large plain of grass. He and Arianne were the only people there.

"H-Huh? Where are we?"

"Far away from Obselok and Prismont. See?" Out in the distance was Obselok and its tall stone walls and towers, but so far away it was hardly visible. "This spatial magic stone in my hand has only one use left in it, and it'll only move one person. That person will be the winner of our duel."

"This is not the time for us to fight! We're supposed to be working together against Obselok!"

"Oh I'm well aware that this isn't anywhere near the right time for a duel. But that's the fun of it!" She chuckled.

"Arianne, I don't want to fight you!" Begged Cas.

"You don't? Well, why don't I give you a reason to fight me."

"What?"

She cackled. "The person that caused your little town to be attacked, the person you've been so eager to find, is none other than yours truly!"

Cas stood there, eyes widened, trying to fully process and believe the words that just left her mouth.

"Yeah, the whole source of this conflict is because of me. You must really hate me now don't you?"

"You…you did this? How?" Cas uttered, still frozen in disbelief. His hands started to clench on their own, Arianne noticed and smiled gleefully.

"You feel it yet? That burning sense of wrath, the rage slowly dispersing through your body. Now, fight me!" Arianne charged at Cas, aiming her dagger right for his eye. Cas grabbed her arm with the dagger and stopped it from getting closer, to which Arianne moved her leg and kicked Cas, knocking him down on his back.

"Come on! Fight, Cas!" Arianne used her other hand to deliver a punch to Cas' chest, but Cas rolled away at the last moment. The impact of Arianne's fist shook the ground.

"If she's really telling the truth, and she's not holding back, do I have any chance of defeating her? When she's unrestrained, she fights like a monster." Cas thought to himself.

Arianne still had a menacing grin on her face, she threw her dagger at Cas, but Cas deflected it with his sword. However, he was left with his sword at his side, he was unguarded. Arianne saw this as her opening and got close to deal a swift punch into his stomach, which made Cas flew back a few distances. Struggling to get back up, Cas coughed up his own blood; one hit from Arianne hurt more than that cave golem ever could. Before he noticed Arianne was running up to him, she had already gotten close and Cas was forced to move out of the way again.

"I don't get it, Arianne! Why do you want to fight me?" Cas shouted as he got up.

"I'm testing to see if you really have the strength and resolve to save people. You see, people who are driven by motivations other than themselves are as weak as they get. And I want to see if you can prove me wrong, if I have to break a few of your bones then so be it!"

Cas raised his sword again, doing his best to bear through the pain he felt in his ribs. Arianne threw another punch as Cas charged at her, but he avoided it. Cas swung his sword which Arianne narrowly dodged. As he was left open, Arianne grabbed another dagger and dug it into his right hip. Cas let out a loud yell in pain, before he got launched backwards from one of Arianne's swift kicks.

But Cas' body wouldn't allow him to stay down, he was already wounded but he still got back up. He rushed at Arianne and thrusted and swung his blade at her with precision, proving his swordsmanship. She was able to avert each swing until Cas aimed a strike at Arianne's bag at her side. She noticed and tried countering, but it was a feint and Cas retracted his sword and grabbed Arianne using his other arm and threw her to the ground. Finally knocking her down on her back, he brought the tip of his blade to her neck. Arianne looked satisfied, she seemed content with her life ending there by his hands. But Cas hesitated, his hands were shaking. She became disappointed.

"Hmph. I gave you all those reasons for you to want to kill me and you can't even do that? Disappointing…"

"Arianne, I don't want to do this to you." He said solemnly.

"This some kinda joke?"

"This isn't a joke, I want us to go to Obselok, together." He moved his blade away from her neck and Arianne got back up.

"That's not how this works! I told you only one of us can make it back there in time! Why do you not hate me for betraying you?"

"I may not have known you for very long, but I can tell that you were wronged by the people of Prismont. I went through that too."

"What do you know about me? We're nothing alike! Can't you see I used you and the rest as stepping stones to my goal? How can you be so forgiving to someone like me?" Arianne's face was now a blend of anger, confusion, and sorrow.

"Just tell me why you did this." Cas remained still and calm.

"I would prefer if you just killed me.

"You know I won't do that."

"For a moment that's what I believed you were gonna do. That look of rage in your eyes gave me a thrill."

"I think my instinct to fight came from my desire to protect the people close to me. When you told me you were responsible for the attack I was afraid that if you stayed alive, you could potentially hurt more people."

She crossed her arms. "Fool, people who are like that can't handle the weight of others' burdens. It's only a matter of time before all those responsibilities come crashing down on you."

"As long as I can make them happy, see them smile or laugh, I don't care what I must go through. We all have our reasons for doing the things we do, tell me what yours are."

"Let me ask you a question: is there really anyone who would care about my reasoning for betraying not only the rest of our squadron, but the entire kingdom?"

"Regardless of what your true intentions are, you're still an ally to me." He got closer to her, staring her dead in the eye.

"Ugh, fine." She conceded, seeing the honesty in Cas' eyes. "But before I tell you about me, let it be known that Obselok was never the enemy."

"What? Then… who's the real enemy?"

"It's the so-called 'holy church', all of them are scum. They took everything from me. It's their fault that Prismont is the way it is now. I trained to be a cleric, five years ago. They not only kicked me out, but they forced me to watch as they burned down my home with my family inside."

"Why would they do that?"

"Said they didn't want a filthy thief like me to ruin their reputation. After that, my life became a twisted nightmare, I had assassins chasing me for a few years. They saw me as an unforgivable sin in their precious land of the Goddess and they would do anything to kill me. Luckily, I was able to build my strength and fight back. And then Greyhart came and recruited me to be on his team and got the church to stop chasing me."

"And how did you cause the attack on Narrowind?"

"Dark magic, I traveled to Obselok and corrupted the mind of that prince. Causing him to become bloodthirsty and launch an attack spell at the town. If we allow this conflict to continue, there may be a full on war between the kingdoms. It will certainly bring ruin and people's lives will be lost. But it doesn't matter to me. As long as I can awaken people to the truth of their rotting kingdom."

"I won't let innocent people die." He said, adamantly.

She scoffed. "Big talk. But fine, go defend your kingdom if you wish."

"It isn't the kingdom that I want to protect, it's the people that I care about that I will protect, including you." He said honestly.

"You really are a fool, after all this you still want me to live? Here, take it." She held out the magic gem that could warp to Obselok.

"Where will you be going?"

"To wherever I want. Farewell, Cas." She turned and was about to begin running.

"Wait, Arianne. I wanted to ask you one last thing." She stopped and looked at him. "Earlier, Clement told me you were a kind and caring person. Was that the real you? Or were you just pretending to fit in with us?"

Arianne chose to not respond and stood there silently for a moment before continuing her running to her unknown destination.

Cas watched as she went farther until she was out of sight. He exhaled and looked at the stone, hoping that Evan and the others were already at the kingdom so he could be healed. He closed his eyes and tightened his grip on the stone as he felt another flash of light.