Feeling at Loss

Whilst lightly bowing my head towards the unknown group of people, I took the opportunity to look upon analyze them.

Though there was certainly a whole lot of them, I felt that only eight people of their group seemed to be able to threaten me.

Among these people, there seemed to be two sorcerers and six close-combat fighters.

Though the odds were stacked against me, it didn't really faze me all that much. After all, I was always the one at a disadvantaged position no matter where I was and what I did in the Lands Between.

"Kughk."

Then, I coughed up a mouthful of blood and my gaze upon them was disrupted.

It was then that I came to a realization.

I wasn't just at a disadvantaged position, I was almost at death's door. My wounds had yet to heal from the fight with the Elden Beast, my flasks were emptied out, my armor and shield destroyed, and my shortbow almost being entirely useless as I was without arrows.

I couldn't even cast a widespread-destruction kind of incantation with the lack of mind I had at the moment.

"..."

Moments go by in tense silence between myself and the group of people across me as I grew nervous for a possible upcoming battle.

With nothing thus far being said yet since my apologies, I steadied my breath and got ready to dash for the greatsword I dropped a few steps away from me.

Finally, just as I was about to lunge at them to try and get rid of their sorcerers as fast as I could, something happened.

"Alright, alright. Calm down, everyone."

A person, with an appearance of a child, stepped forward.

Though he most certainly did look like a child with his scruffy blonde hair and fair skin, gave off a calm and confident demeanor befitting that of an experience leader and warrior.

After he spoke, their group began to stowaway their arms that were initially pointed towards me.

Seeing this, I began to relax myself slightly as well and secretly sighed in relief.

With the child-lookalike confirming the state of his group, he finally turned his piercing blue eyes towards me and wore a light smile.

"Good day, stranger. I am Finn Deimne, captain of the Loki Familia."

As he finished his introduction, I nodded in response and fell into contemplation.

Loki Familia? Was that a term for a faction of a god or goddess? Has an unknown faction come to the Lands Between to strive for power? Perhaps...

Many thoughts were going through my head when I realized that the silence between myself and the group returned once more.

Shaking off any other thoughts I had at the moment, I resolved myself to deal with the situation at hand first.

Staring back at the person who called himself Finn, I introduced myself as well.

"...I am Blair."

After saying my piece, Finn slightly narrowed his eyes, probably finding my introduction lacking.

"Nice to meet you, Blair. Now, may I know why you tried to attack us?"

Taking a moment to think about the answer I would give, I decided to be truthful unless it was detrimental to do so.

"I was in a battle with a... beast wielding powers of gold color right before I passed out. When I awoke only to see a similar golden hue approaching my face, I thought I was still being attacked by it. Therefore, I retaliated. My apologies once again for doing so."

Saying my piece, I lightly bowed again towards Finn.

Slightly narrowing his eyes once more, he seemed to contemplate on whether or not I was being sincere with what I said. After a few moments, he sighed.

"Since no one was hurt, I won't pursue this matter further. However..."

With a slight pause in his speech, he got rid of the light smile on his face and looked at me threateningly.

"If you try to attack any of us again, we will not hold back again in attacking you. Do you understand."

Rather than saying anything else in response, I chose to just give him a slow and steady nod.

After I did so, he relaxed and regained his light smile.

"Then we shall be on our way. Also, feel free to pick up your weapons."

Nodding once more towards Finn, I picked up the shortbow and greatsword that I dropped onto the floor earlier.

Seeing that I've armed myself once more, he turned around and began to make his way toward his 'Familia', as he called it.

Taking a brief moment to look around, I realized that I was at a complete loss as to where I currently was.

The area didn't look like any of the catacombs or dungeons I've ever been to, after all.

Looking at Finn who was making his way to his Familia, I had an idea.

"Finn."

"Is there anything else, Blair?

As Finn faced me once more, I made my request.

"Could I follow behind your group, at most until we reach the exit?"

Having made my request, he narrowed his gaze once more in suspicion against me.

"...Why do you wish to follow us?"

In the most serious voice I could muster, I responded.

"Because I'm lost."

____________________

With Finn having temporarily accepted me accompanying their group, we were now making our way towards the exit of this place.

However, rather than letting me follow behind them as I requested, he instead arranged for me to be accompany them by the side.

I didn't take this as a sign of his trust towards myself though, as he also assigned me two 'body guards'.

The first bodyguard was the man who carried me to their familia in the first place. He had a blue tattoo on the left side of his face and a muscular physique, alongside his grey colored hair and amber eyes. However, what bothered me the most about this man was a peculiar characteristic of his, the ears and tail of a beast.

Was he an offspring of the Beastmen of Farum Azula? This shouldn't be the case though, as he appeared too humanlike at the moment.

As for the second bodyguard, he was a short, yet stout man with long brown hair and a long beard of the same color.

These two 'bodyguards' of mine were armed, the beastman wielding dual swords, and the stout man wielding a large axe.

They were currently very vigilant of me, constantly watching for any movement that might come of as an attack towards them or someone else of their group.

Though this might be the case, I wasn't really bothered about it and felt that it was even warranted for them to do so. After all, I was just recently a stranger that tried to ambush attack on of their own.

Shortly sighing and shaking my head at my current situation, I decided to look over my current external and internal states.

Looking at my external state, it was saddening.

The Veteran's Armor Set that I wore for the latter part of my journey in the Lands Between was completely destroyed, while my Banished Knight's Shield was basically out of commission as well.

As I felt up the center of my shield, a small feeling of relief arose on my face. The clawmark seal that I asked Master Hewg to embed within the shield was undamaged for the most part, allowing me to retain the ability of casting incantations.

Feeling relieved that the clawmark seal was safe, I checked over the rest of my equipment.

Banished Knight's Greatsword is damaged, but still usable. Misbegotten Shortbow is basically undamaged, though practically useless at the moment as I do not have arrows.

The small, withered Talisman Pouches around my waist were thankfully intact, as well as the Greatshield Talisman, Pearldrake Talisman, Dragoncrest Shield Talisman, and the Bull-Goat's Talisman inside of them.

Just beside the pouches were my flasks of Crimson Tears, Cerulean Tears, and Wondrous Physick, though they were currently emptied out due to my battle with the Elden Beast.

Actually, would I still be able to fill up these flasks at all anymore? I have no doubt that after the confrontation with the greater will, that the guidance of grace would no longer help and guide me anymore...

I thought for a moment, then decided to think about it at another time as I couldn't really do anything about it currently.

Now, for my internal state...

Taking a slow and deep breath, I gently closed my eyes shut and felt the system of runes within the core of my being.

Immediately, my face contorted in agony as I clenched both of my hands as hard as I could while trying to suppress the overwhelming rage and sorrow that I was feeling.

Around 50% of the runes I originally had were gone, basically halving my strengths in all aspects.

After seeing the loss of the smaller runes that occupied the majority of my system of runes, I then looked upon the runes that occupied a small area in the center of it. Though they only occupied a small portion of the core of my being, their effects were far more than the small runes surrounding them. These unique runes are called Great Runes, and I had acquired 7 of them by killing the demigods of the Lands Between.

What I saw... made me want to cry out rivers of blood.

The Great Runes lost their luster, and subsequently their effects as well... Save for one Great Rune.

Rykard's Great Rune remained despite the incessant absorption of the Greater Will.

Though I was glad that I was able to keep one of the Great Runes, a question arose in my mind.

Was it a coincidence that it remained? Or was it because the essence of the blasphemous serpent combined with it, thus making it harder to absorb for the Greater Will?

As I was mulling over my thoughts and questions about the Great Rune, an irritated and hostile voice called out to me from the side.

"Oi."

Turning my head to face the speaker, I found it to be one of my 'bodyguards', specifically the beastman.

Seeing that he got my attention, he continued to speak with hostility.

"If you keep on tightenin' your grip on that sword of yours..."

As he spoke, he raised his dual swords and pointed them towards me.

"Then I might start tightenin' my swords in your guts!"

Usually, I was not one to be provoked after all of the things I've experienced in my journey. However, after counting my losses, I was feeling very sorrowful and angry at the moment. Perhaps I was even feeling sorrowful and angry enough to the point of wanting to slaughter the little beastman in front of me.

Before I could act upon any of my thoughts however, a heavy sigh rang out from my other side. As for who it was, it was the other bodyguard that was assigned to me, the stout man.

"Bete, stop this behavior right now."

"Hmph!"

After being reprimanded by the stout man, the beastman who was called Bete turned his face away from us and became silent.

Then, the stout man faced me spoke gently yet vigilantly.

"Lad, try calming yourself. Your actions are currently making us nervous."

With him having said that, I looked around the familia I was with and realized that my previous actions have indeed made them nervous.

Following this realization, I composed and relaxed myself once more.

"Good lad. If you need anything, just ask me. Name's Gareth."

Seemingly satisfied at having diffused the tense situation, Gareth relaxed a bit more than before. Though, he was still as vigilant it seemed.

Looking down at the ground, blood suddenly began to seep out of my mouth once more as I felt weakened.

I didn't mind this at the moment though, as I was currently directing all my murderous and angry intentions through my gaze into the ground.

As I was gazing murderously into the ground, long brown boots suddenly came to view and started walking alongside myself, Bete, and Gareth.

Looking up, I found the owner of the boots to be the one I accidentally attacked earlier. As I was blinded in hatred, anger, and vigilance earlier, I didn't notice the sheer beauty of the woman in front of me. Looking closely, I even found long, pointy ears that I had never seen before in the Lands Between.

Finally looking into the jade-colored eyes of the woman, I saw seriousness and vigilance. Yet, I also saw what was perhaps a smidgen of pity as well.

After a few moments of looking at each other in silence, she finally spoke in a serious and vigilant tone.

"Would you like to be healed? I can do so, if you do not attack me like before."