Whisked Away

Darkness.

It was all I could 'see'.

I'm not sure how long I've been awake, nor how long I've been knocked out from my battle with the Elden Beast. However, there was one thing that I was sure of.

"I've failed..."

These words of mine endlessly echoed throughout the dark landscape, like the darkness itself wanted to remind me of my failure.

"Master Hewg, Alexander, Blaidd, Iji, Roderika, Melina, Ranni... I'm so sorry..."

I tried clenching my fists, but came to the realization that I couldn't feel or control my body at all.

With my mind being the only thing I had left, I started to wallow in my despair for a moment...

Until I felt a tingling sensation that was somehow reminiscent to the feeling of having something of my own stolen.

Then, utter rage filled the entirety of my being.

"Greater Will, can you hear me!? Show yourself to me!"

My rage-filled words echoed throughout the dark landscape once more, until the sound of my own voice faded away.

For a brief moment, there was silence.

Then in the next moment, the familiar golden light of grace appeared before my eyes.

"What is it that you want, child?"

An ethereal voice sounded out of the golden light, simultaneously sounding both young and old, male and female at the same time.

"Why do you not just end me now!? Surely you can steal my runes immediately with my death, can you not!?"

Fury coursed through my veins as I felt the power of runes being seeped out of my body.

These runes are not just the source of my strength. They are the culmination of all the hardships, struggles, and achievements that I had experienced in my journey throughout the Lands Between.

These runes were what made myself the current me, and having them taken away from me while I was alive was akin to defiling my corpse and cursing my soul for an eternity. I'd rather kill myself now then continue to feel the power of runes seeping out of my body.

"Now, now. Relax yourself child."

The Greater Will saying these words, no matter how serene and calm-sounding it was, did nothing against the fury and rage that coursed through my existence right now. In fact, it made me even angrier.

Paying no heed to my emotions however, the Greater Will continued speaking.

"First of all, I have not stolen anything, as the power of runes originated from myself in the first place. Therefore, I am only taking back what is mine."

Although rage was still the most prevalent feeling I had right now, I was now feeling a bit stupid and regretful as I tried to fight against what was basically the embodiment of what gave me strength.

"And second of all, beings such as yourself feel more nourishing when slowly eaten alive..."

Though the Greater Will remained golden and holy as it usually was, the serene and calm feeling it gave off no longer remained. Instead, it now emanated a bone-chilling, sinister, and malicious intent.

The Greater Will's current atmosphere was immensely different to what it was, seemingly prompting fear and dread to anything that it looked upon.

However, I was unaffected.

My feelings didn't matter anymore. At least, not at the moment.

"I will kill you."

All that was currently left in my head was the goal of killing this being in front of me. Nothing else mattered.

"Oho?"

Seemingly taken aback by the conviction of my words, it pondered for a moment to itself in silence. Then it chuckled.

"That's fine with me."

From the golden light of the Greater Will, an ethereal arm that glowed with of the same color materialized and made its way towards my head.

"The more you fight back, the more pleasure I shall derive-"

In a blink of an eye, it felt like something had wrapped itself around me. And in the next moment, I was abruptly whisked away and could no longer hear the Greater Will.

The Greater Will remained still for a moment, seemingly taken aback by the sudden turn of events. After a while, it looked up at the humongous Erdtree in front of it. Within the boundless space of the starry skies, this Erdtree's size was one of a kind, by virtue of the world it was trying to conquer.

"What happened?"

Its voice rang out to no one in particular. However, it started nodding to itself and gave off a sigh.

"Protocol Z09TR3, the use of all beings whose sole purpose is the elimination of life in conquering worlds... I should probably get to tweaking this protocol to prevent any further cases of this happening once more..."

Muttering its thoughts aloud, the Greater Will flew off and disappeared from the vicinity of the enormous Erdtree.

____________________

"This is why weaklings shouldn't go gettin' ahead of themselves!"

I voiced out my frustrations to the silent blonde behind me.

I was carrying the body of the unconscious weakling on my shoulder that was somehow still grasping onto his shitty-looking sword and some destroyed lump of metal. We were heading back to regroup with the Familia to feed this guy a potion or something so that the guild couldn't fine us for injuring the weaklings or some shit like that.

"That other weakling was real funny too! He squealed and ran away from you the moment you approached him!"

My laughs echoed throughout the dungeon as we walked our way back to where the others were.

"..."

"Tsk, boring..."

I eventually stopped laughing though as Aiz didn't react in any sort of way after that initial blush of hers.

Though, that was probably the first time I've ever seen Aiz looking that embarrassed.

"Keepin' that face stored in the memory bank..."

I whispered to myself, then decided to stay quiet along the rest our walk.

After a few minutes of walking, we eventually regrouped with the rest of the familia.

"Oho? What is this? Seems like the Bete had a casualty over on his end..."

An infuriatingly mocking voice sounded out from the group. Then, a woman with medium length black hair and brown eyes wearing skimpy clothing stepped out from among them.

"If only you kept your mouth shut, this wouldn't have happened in the first place!"

A vein on my head almost popped from the tone this amazoness was using towards me.

"Tiona, you piece of shit! If it wasn't for your yappin'-"

"Enough."

From the group came forward a tall elf with jade-colored hair, tied in a tail that cascaded down to her waist. Her eyes shared the same lustrous color as her hair as well. Wearing a green outfit with yellow borders, a white cloak over it, a black belt, a yellow sash, black leggings, and long brown boots, her beauty was a sight to behold even amongst the goddesses in our world.

Her mere presence was an intimidating one to stand up against, but I wasn't one to let myself be beaten so easily in a fight!

"But Riveria-"

"Not another word from you."

She spoke to me in a stern and commanding voice. Her tone spoke volumes in that I would probably be severely punished if I said another word right now. So, I chose to tactically retreat from the fight this time.

Silence pervaded the atmosphere of the group for a few moments. Finally, Riveria gave off a short sigh and stopped oppressing me with her aura.

"Gently hold him upright. I'll heal him myself."

"Huh? Shouldn't we just-"

"What did I say earlier?"

The glare on her face returned and stared me down. Not able to withstand her aura, I obediently complied.

After she got close enough to the weakling, she reached out her hand towards him and started chanting her healing magic which caused her hands to glow in a faint, golden color.

"Fil Eld-"

Then, the weakling who I thought was unconscious this entire time raised the arm that he was using to hold his sword and attacked Riveria.

Time seemingly stopped for me as I reacted as fast as I could, and held the weakling's arm in place. It was then that I realized that this guy was no weakling at all as it took the entirety of my strength to hold the guy back from attacking Riveria.

"What the fuck... Are you doin'!?"

As quickly as the attack came, he quickly left my grasp as well before abruptly disappearing, then reappearing a distance away from us in a battle-ready stance with his sword.

Riveria quickly stepped back behind the other people of the group, while myself, Gareth, Ais, and Tiona took the front and got ready for battle.

For a moment, the tension in the air was palpable as we stared him down.

With both sides being cautious, no one has yet to take action in doing anything.

After a few more moments, the guy seemed to notice something was wrong. He lowered his sword, then lowered his head as he began to wipe the blood from his face. After he was done doing so, he raised his head again and gazed at us with eyes the color of dark red.

Another few moments go by as he observes us. Then, he gives of a short sigh as he begins to unequip his weaponry, laying them on the ground and stepping away from them.

As we look upon him with confusion yet still being ready for a fight to break out at any moment, he finally spoke in a deep voice and bowed.

"My apologies for mistakenly attacking a member of your party."